


No Happy Endings

by BlueSteelFairy



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/M, Other, Sequel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-14
Updated: 2018-03-10
Packaged: 2019-03-04 22:42:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 31
Words: 44,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13374600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueSteelFairy/pseuds/BlueSteelFairy
Summary: Follow Up to "Little Lies" || Explicit Warning for Chapter 20: Act Four, Scene Five ||Salem has lost the war. Cinder Fall still lives, imprisoned in Atlas, awaiting trial and sentencing for her crimes. Winter Schnee has volunteered to question and process her, determined to prove her involvement in the unexpected outcome of a failed incursion on Salem's Domain-and to find out why Salem's second saved her life. Cinder, on the other hand, is trying to understand how the ghosts of Fall Maiden past and could have been are still haunting her after the extraction of the Grimm Scarab that bound the powers to her.





	1. Act One, Scene One

_After Salem's Downfall  
Cinder's Cell _  
_Classified Location_  
_Atlas_

* * *

 

They had lost the war. And to add insult to injury, she was still alive.

 

Not that Cinder Fall was unharmed.

The powers she had stolen had been stripped from her.

The entire left side of her body had become pitch black and scaly, from her toes disappearing into her hairline.

And that hadn't gone away.

 

But she had been defeated and detained after a battle with the girl with the silver eyes.

 

So when Cinder awoke, one golden eye and one black will bright red iris opening, she was honestly surprised to be alive.

 

She'd have expected them to finish her, after all she had done that had directly caused them pain and loss.

 

Those without loss, who'd maintained innocence, had lost that when she unleashed Hell on Beacon.

 

And most would agree her actions sense had continued to be morally reprehensible.

 

Cinder sat up as she tried to adjust to the lighting. There were no windows. Her cell was white, sterile, and brightly lit. They'd taken special care to make sure she had no dust particles to manipulate.

 

_Could I even still?_

 

How long since she'd used her Semblance? Could she even use it? Did she even have aura left?

 

Did she have a soul left to produce an aura?

 

Her mind was foggy. And then vague memories of battles, of the girl's teammates fighting-

"Emerald! Mercury!"

 

She jerked her head upright, and a calm, cool voice answered.

"Your associates have been detained, as you have been. General Ironwood personally made sure the boy could keep his legs after they were disarmed. The girl was asking about you."

 

Cinder turned slowly to see across the room, though a flickering transparent force field separated the, stood Specialist Winter Schnee. Her hair had grown out over the years of conflict, so now she kept it in a braid chignon bun on the back of her head. A scar was across her face, over one eye (just missing damaging it) and down to her cheek.

 

During the war, the unofficial had been made official. She was the second highest ranking member of the Atlesian Military, not just working directly for the first.

 

"So I'm in Atlas then," Cinder spoke quietly, unsure what to make of the other woman's presence.  
"You are. It was agreed long before your loss we were the best suited to contain you. Furthermore, escape is less advantageous to you as there are trained military individuals to stop you from claiming a vehicle, and well, it's a bit cold out there."

 

All of these were true. Cinder didn't let her gaze leave the woman, and the woman didn't take her own eyes off of her.

"Surely there's some reason the Second in Command of the Atlesian Military is the first person I see when I wake up?" Cinder finally spoke, "Rather then someone of less importance."  
"I requested it."

 

That both did and didn't surprise her. Cinder frowned, because she had a suspicion, but she didn't want to go into it.  
"Why?"

"Because of the fact that I should be dead," Winter answered simply, "And yet, I'm not."  
"I'm not sure you're aware, but by your rank and role, you're a talented warrior."

"None of that would have saved me from the incident with the Dragon."

 

Cinder turned away, and refused to answer her at that point.  
"I'm tired."

"I think you're lying," Winter sighed heavily and stood up, "I'll be back later."  
"You know, there's better methods of interrogation."  
"Torture has been proven ineffective for reliable answers. The subject will answer whatever they believe is wanted to be heard," Winter turned away, "Until evening."

 

She walked out, and Cinder really wished she could believe she was alone. At the beginning there was some question in her mind if _they_ were real. She knew they weren't now. She didn't have the powers anymore, so neither of them should have been bound to her. Thus, Cinder concluded, they were fragments of her broken mind.

 

"Ah," the first voice spoke once Winter was gone, "The other woman."

"Amber! You know she's never seen in that way," The second voice answered, "Or else she wouldn't have intervened with the Dragon."

 

Cinder shut her eyes, defiant and refusing to acknowledge either of them. Truthfully, she was tired. It was probably a side effect of having the powers torn from her, even if they had been stolen. The thing was, she had really hoped the loss of those energies would mean she'd stop hearing the voices of Amber and Pyrrha Nikos.


	2. Act One, Scene Two

_ During The War _ _   
_ _ Salem's Domain _

 

* * *

  
  


_ The incident with the Dragon. _

 

_ That was during one of the most tumultuous periods in the war. Somehow, a way into Salem's domain had been discovered, and a small task force had been sent in from Atlas. Cinder was once again in the castle for treatment and recovery, when she'd heard shouting from outside. She frowned and considered staying in her room, but then she heard Watts shouting. _

 

_ Atlas. _

 

_ There were ships in the sky, and they were from Atlas. _

 

_ It doesn't matter. Atlas was a Military Notion, and they knew what an incursion was. It was a lite invasion, and an act of war. That's what she told herself when she rose to her feet and dashed down the corridors, bound for the front door. _

 

_ "What exactly are you expecting, Cinder? That after your epic levels of betrayal, your precious General Jimmy will whisk you away?" Amber had grown more mean since she'd finished the job. Cinder had truly believed once the prior Fall Maiden died, she wouldn't have to hear from her. She'd been wrong. _

_ "That's not who she is," Pyrrha's voice was worse, full of compassion instead of anger, "She just needs to be there if it happens." _

 

_ Especially when Nikos wasn't wrong. _

_ There was no whisking for Cinder. There would be no rescue, and no redemption. _

_ But if- _ if _ -Ironwood was out there. If he went down. After what had happened in Vale... _

 

Why am I doing this?

 

_ She heard Emerald and Mercury yelp when she passed them, and Emerald shout in confusion after her.  She didn't slow down. _

 

_ It was probably an abuse of her abilities to create a blast of fire to boost herself to a cliff to watch the skies. _

Because I don't want him to be alone if this is the end.

 

_ "Oye, I may vomit."  _

 

_ Amber was leaning against a boulder on the edge of her view, but Pyrrha Nikos sat at the edge of of the cliff that Cinder stood on. _ __   
_ "It's sweet," She countered, "This isn't about the war, it's not about Salem. It's about what they had together." _ _   
_ __ "A series of little lies strung together by lust," Amber rolled her eyes, "Yes, that makes sense."

_ "She opened up to him, Amber," Pyrrha countered, "She told him about her past." _

_ "Yeah, right up and until she met Salem." _

 

_ Cinder tried to tune them out. For some reason her brief affair with General  James Ironwood was their favorite thing to discuss. Her one regret in the war. Because it hadn't had anything to do with the war, but her own human flaws and weaknesses. _

 

_ Because he had shown her kindness, compassion, and a gentle touch. _

 

There!

 

_ She saw the battle. There were nearly a dozen of the tell tale ships from Atlas. It didn't surprise her when she saw the dragon rise from the landscape. Salem could command them from the cover of her castle, and influence their actions. _

 

_ She barely had a chance to move when the first ship crashed beneath the cliff. The ground shook while the dragon grimm roared. It was disabling the ships fairly efficiently, with strong sweeps of his limbs , wings, and tail. _

 

_ There was one peculiar ship that was faring well, its movements nimble. It was like there were blue streams attached to end, offering a contrast to the sky. _

 

_ While the pilot of the craft below the cliff was dead on impact, apparently some of the equipment was still intact. A radio sparked to life. Cinder would have ignored it, except for the voice that spoke between static. _

_ "-Schnee! I am ordering a retreat. This is an unforeseen enemy!" _

 

_ Cinder's breath caught. Amber scoffed, and Pyrrha was watching her.  She didn't move, but she was listening to the reports, and watching the battle. _

 

_ The decorated ship was moving differently. It wasn't on the offense. Yes, it was attacking. But it was- _

 

_ "They're distracting the dragon," Cinder murmured quietly. _

 

_ The strategy was working. The ships that had survived the initial counter attack-less than half-were able to get away. The nimbler ship, with its blue tails, had drawn the dragon away from the others. That said, the dragon was enraged. They'd gotten a surprising number of shots, and it looked like the massive Grimm was down a few eyes. _

 

_ "Schnee! That is not a retreat!" _ __   
_ "General, the others are almost clear. I just have to keep it away from them a little longer!" _ _   
_ __ "Schnee, get out of there! You've done enough to distract it!"

_ "My ship is faster! I can swerve around-" _ _   
_ _ "Winter, it's charging for a blast!" _

 

_ It was the way his voice changed that made her heart stop. Cinder jerked her head back from the shipwreck and up to the sky. He was right. The dragon was flapping its wings to move backwards. It was taking a breath to send fire back out. _

 

_ -And he'd stopped using her last name. He was scared she was going to die. _

 

_ In that moment, Cinder's mind flashed to one of those evenings during the festival. It had been her idea-to give him a night with a woman he loved but couldn't have. She had done her best to make sure she didn't hear what name Ironwood had said. But it turned out earbuds weren't the most stable sound block in the throws of passion. _

 

_ Two syllables. _ __   
_ A name that sounded like hers. _ _   
_ __ A name he was practically screaming to get away before the dragon could burn her.

 

_ The ship got away from the first blast, but just barely. Its tails were on fire though, and judging by its movements, it was heading down. It was trying to make an emergency landing, but the dragon was pursuing it. _

 

_ "She's not going to make it," Pyrrha whispered from her seat, "Even if she can land-" _ _   
_ _ "No," Cinder's fists clenched, one gloved, one clawed, "She will land." _

_ "Okay, but then there's the Dragon, so-" Amber started to point out, but Cinder didn't let her finish whatever she was saying. _

 

_ She was airborne again, desperately trying to manipulate wind. If Salem saw her it would be hell to pay, so the only chance to use fire was if the dragon flew back again. _

 

_ It was both a relief and a panic when it let out another breath. She was able to use the moment of cover to close the distance, crossing over the top of the craft to land on the back of the ship to brace and balance herself. She could feel it rocking-the tails were gone, it had barely escaped the second fire blast. Probably only because of the velocity from which it was falling. _

 

_ Several sets of bright red and yellow eyes fixed on Cinder, who met the dragon with her own mismatched gaze. _ _   
_ _ "Back. Down." _

 

_ She'd spoken to Grimm before. _ _   
_ _ Sometimes she'd persuaded them to help her. _

_ But frenzied Grimm were a challenge. _ _   
_ _ And this one was on the hunt, under Salem's suggestion. _

 

_ Ir roared, and Cinder didn't falter. She drew her own flames and threw it right back at the dragon's maw. Fire and a dragon's face wouldn't draw attention, but it would deliver a message. The dragon shrieked, and Cinder rose to her feet to stare it down. _

 

_ "Back. The. Fuck. Off," She warned, her voice clear, concise. They weren't stupid. The large ones understood words. "Or I will end you." _

 

_ For good measure, she swung her clawed arm to scratch when it got close. _

 

_ The dragon growled, but it swerved away. Cinder smirked, unable to resist it. The dragon was not going to be a problem. _ __   
_   
_ __ "Cinder!"

 

_ She hadn't expected Pyrrha's yell to be so frantic. She noticed the red haired girl, or her ghost, or whatever she was, standing on one of the ship's protrusion. Her hand's were covering her mouth in a gasp. _

 

_ She turned just in time to see them collide with the ground. _


	3. Act One, Scene Three

_ After Salem's Downfall _ __   
_ General Ironwood's Office _ _   
_ __ Atlas

* * *

 

"She is infuriating."

 

General Ironwood couldn't fight the slight snort as he went through the paperwork on his desk. The war might be over, at long last, but there was a flood of forms left to fill out. Winter had volunteered-well, she had demanded-to question Cinder Fall. And truthfully, he would be quite happy if he never saw the captive woman again.

 

His second was pacing on the other side of his desk, her arms clasped behind her back.   
"She won't give me anything."   
"Winter, might I offer an option?" Ironwood looked up from the paperwork as he set down his pen. The current sheets were from Miss Sustrai and Mister Black's lawyers, requesting psych evaluations before any charges be lifted. Salem's force had almost been wiped out, but Cinder had been knocked out by Ruby Rose.

 

Her teammates had surrendered to get their leader medical treatment.

And the process, they had discovered all of the changes Cinder Fall had gone through since he'd last encountered her, the night before Beacon fell. 

 

The night she had told him about Ai Zhang.

 

The general cleared his head of it as Winter sighed and stared at him.   
"I'm not making this up, General. Any question I had about what happened in Salem's domain vanished when I saw her."

"So what you're saying is Salem's apprentice, the last of her inner circle still alive, known to have directly murdered more than a few people, indirectly to cause the massacre of others, and the mastermind behind countless schemes that threatened to destroy Remnant," He clarified as he looked up at her, "For no apparent reason stopped the dragon from finishing you off and pulled you from the flaming wreckage so that you stood half a chance of being found by the rescue team sent in?"

 

That was a lie. There was no rescue team. It had been him. General Ironwood knew the council would have never approved the resources to search for her, a single person, so he'd gone on his own.

 

He'd believed, truthfully, that he had been going to retrieve the body of the woman he loved. What he'd been relieved to discover was that she would live for him to long for another day. True, it was quite peculiar how far away from the wreck she'd been, as though the wreck was to serve as a signal fire. Ironwood hadn't questioned it then, he'd only prioritized getting her back to safety, and medical attention for her injuries.

 

After she woke, Winter had insisted there'd been intervention on her behalf by a woman in red with a black clawed arm. It had been dismissed, because there weren't that many people in Salem's domain, and they couldn't imagine any of her allies having helped her.

 

Just as before, James had kept his affections to himself.

"She had a reason," Winter frowned, "And that's what I'm determined to find out, General."

"Well ,when you go to see her next, do bring the standard paperwork-options for legal representation and the like," He sighed, "Any information she can offer, that sort of thing."   
"Right," Winter trailed off, "-Do you believe me, General?"

 

He winced, because that was a complicated question, and not one he could answer without bias. And that was before they counted Cinder's astoundingly long list of war crimes and murder. That said, Ironwood had kept it to himself, though he had spiraled for a few weeks. Her manipulations of him had probably ended in her access to the network, and her manipulation of the tournament. The only thing was...

 

"General Ironwood? Winter?"

 

A new voice joined their conversation, following a knock on the door, and it saved him from the confrontation, for now. It also led to further confusing regarding Cinder Fall though. The ginger haired android had been upgraded to serve time passed, but there stood Penny Polendina, in the sythenetic flesh. Because of Cinder's suggestion, Ironwood had made sure she backed up her memories and personality files the morning before everything went to Hell. It was an action he still couldn't understand why Cinder had done.

 

"Yes, Penny?" He inquired as she stepped inside.   
"Ah, Winter wanted me to notify her as soon as Miss Fall woke. And she has."

"Thank you, Penny," Winter turned, saluted to the General, and stepped out. Penny looked uneasy, which was understandable, given Cinder had come very close to ending her existence.

"Is there something else?" Ironwood questioned.   
"She-was talking to someone, sir," Penny swallowed, "Someone who couldn't have been there."

"No one could have been in her room," He frowned, "It's quite secure, only Winter and myself have access for the time being."   
"-I understand," Penny looked unsatisfied, but she turned away.   
"Who was she talking to?"

 

No one  _ could _ be in there. And she'd been brought to the room as soon as the Grimm Scarab had been stripped from her. Truthfully they had no idea what might happen to the powers then. What worried everyone was it seemed to be dead, but there was no evidence she had any power left. At the very least, she might have tried to escape.

 

But whatever the case, Penny seemed to be worried by the answer to the question.   
"-Pyrrha, sir," Penny turned, her electric green eyes wide with emotion, "Pyrrha Nikos."


	4. Act One, Scene Four

_ After Salem's Downfall _ __   
_ Cinder's Cell _ _   
_ __ Classified Location

_ Atlas _

* * *

 

"You haven't touched your food."

Cinder snorted and rolled her eyes at Winter's observation. The specialist clearly didn't know how to push the discussion to what she really wanted to know. A discussion Cinder refused to have in all honesty. 

 

"Because it was a moment of weakness?" Amber was in one corner across the room from her, the former Maiden examining her nails. She was dressed in black now, for some reason.

"Amber!" Pyrrha hissed, usually favoring a a seat beside Cinder on the bed.  _ Why does she insist on hovering like that?  _

 

"I'm not very hungry," Cinder answered simply, "Maybe it's a side effect of being post surgical."

 

She'd been vaguely aware of it since Winter's last departure. She'd felt the scar across her abdomen, so she could only assume that they'd gone hunting for the Grimm Scarab.  _ That's where it nested, after all.  _ That had been one of those things Salem hadn't made a very big deal about. Though Watts had counted it off as a possible side effect of using the glove and the Grimm Scarab to anchor the Maiden's powers, he'd listed a ton of them. Not to mention, 'you may discover difficult conceiving' and 'the Grimm will rot your entire reproductive tract rendering you infertile-hopefully' were very different things.

 

Still, it confused her. Between the scar and her inability to conjure the powers of the element, Cinder assumed that yes, the accursed Grimm Scarab had been removed. So why was it whenever she was left alone with her thoughts, Amber and Pyrrha Nikos would appear to respectively taunt and haunt her?

 

"You could just be nuts," Amber answered in her black dress, "I mean, that makes sense to me. You've always been a bit of a psychopath, if you ask me."

"No one asked you, and you aren't a professional," Pyrrha answered dryly, clad in her red dress from the night of the dance.  _ Why that outfit? _ They'd both changed since she'd come to after  the surgery. From the moment she'd fallen from Beacon Tower and until she awoke imprisoned, they'd been clad in the combat gear she had thought both women in.

 

Now it was like they were dressed for a party, where as she wore plain black scrubs.

 

"I could have some anti-nausea meds sent for," Winter offered, still seated across the flickering forcefield.

 

Cinder turned to look at her from where she sat on the bed. She understood why she didn't have a window-they didn't want to give her access to glass. But she did wish she had something to look at other then the fragments of her seeming mental breakdown.

 

Winter was perched at what appeared to be a small clear plastic table. She sat on a matching chair, her ankles crossed, because etiquette lessons lasted forever. A pen was on the table beside the papers, and Cinder realized they were about her.

 

"So today isn't more questions?"   
"Different questions," Winter answered dryly, "Unlike Salem, we do still believe in basic human rights here. For instance, we feed you."

 

She had removed the untouched tray when she'd originally addressed Cinder. The cell, theoretically, had two electric force fields before you reached the locked door. In general, only one was up at a time. They could be alternated to drop off and take away food trays. Winter had expected to have to direct Cinder to bring the tray, or even that she might have to knock her out with sleeping gas. Instead, the tray had been exactly where it had been dropped off that morning.

 

"So," Winter spoke up then, "The World of Remnant has other questions, unrelated to the dragon incident. You were able to get into the Cross Continental Transmit Systems. You were able to get into one of the most securely safe guarded systems to manipulate the sequence of events of the 74th Vytal Festival. You were able to forge Haven transcripts so no one at Vytal guessed you were false. You were able to get to Leonardo Lionheart. You were able to track Amber. And we'd like to know more about the how's, when's, and what's. Also, any additional who's and where's that may not have come to light."

"So you want information about every step of the way," Cinder waved a hand to dismiss her, "I can't imagine why I'd do that."   
"To make a deal."   
"I don't exactly value you my life, Schnee," Cinder snorted, "The war's over. We lost. I hate this world. It's why I fought."

 

Winter frowned and brought a binder off the table to place on the floor besides the forcefield.   
"Well. If you're more inclined to be reasonable when I'm not here, the forcefield will recede so you can grab the documents to look over."

"Whatever."

 

"So. One final question," Winter straightened out and faced her.

 

Cinder sighed and turned her attention back to the specialist. It brought an unexpected pain to her, because of the parade rest Winter had defaulted too. It was  _ familiar _ in a way that shook her calm.

 

_ He used to stand like that all the times. Makes sense his second would do it the same way _ .

 

"Questions are free, answers will cost you," Cinder shrugged it off and sighed.   
"What's your question?"   
"Why did you save me?"

 

_ Of course that's what she wants to ask. _

"I don't know what you're talking about," Cinder repeated her story. Winter studied her face for a moment, and then she walked out. 

 

Once the room was still, Cinder stood up to cross the floor to collect the binder. She doubted there'd be anything of interest, but reading was better than talking to her ghosts or staring at the wall.

 

What surprised her was the first item on the questionnaire.

 

**_Where are Salem's remains?_ **

 

Did they not have the body? Truthfully, Cinder hadn't witnessed Salem's death. She'd gotten caught up in her own doomed battle.

 

Actually, the first few questions seemed to be about Salem. Could she have faked her death. Could she have escaped somehow.

 

_ The only way she could have done that is if Emerald helped her. She's the one who can conjure illusions _ .

"Yeah, that's impractical as hell," Amber stared at her nails, "It's not like she follows evil women in charge."   
"Shut up!" Cinder twirled around and snarled, "I led them down those roads! I led them into that domain, I-" She stopped.   
"What?" Amber blinked, "You're not thinking of doing something out of character, are you?"   
"-Cinder, think about this-" Pyrrha appeared next as Cinder tore through the pages of the binder.

"Schnee wants information, and she needs bargaining tools, right? So I'll tell her what might sway me," Cinder snorted, "What's the worst that can happen?"

"She said, before interning with the devil," Amber pointed out.

"-Did she not give me a pen?"   
"Cinder, you don't have any information about Salem!" Pyrrha exclaimed, "Even if you weren't considering what you are-"

"Winter doesn't want information about Salem,  _ Atlas _ does," Cinder turned to the redhead sitting on the bed beside her, "What she wants to know about is the incident with the dragon."


	5. Act One, Scene Five

_ During The War _ __   
_ Salem's Domain _ _   
_ __ The Crash Site of Winter Schnee's Ship

* * *

 

_ Cinder groaned when she lifted herself from the ground. The ship had crashed, but it seemed to be more or less intact. She ached, but she would tune it out. Hell, she had tuned out pain for most of her life. This was no big deal. _

 

_ When she circled the crash landed aircraft, she could see broken glass. Had the pilot already gotten out? She could hope that, couldn't she? _

 

_ But when she got closer, Cinder swore. It had shattered, and inside the pilot was trapped inside. Her side swept white hair was stained with blood, there was a gash across her face. She was dazed, and it looked like the top of the craft had imploded in on itself.  _

 

_ She didn't have to heal her. She didn't have to do much at all. If Cinder was right about Winter Schnee, and she didn't doubt it, rescue would be coming for her soon. _

 

_ "Ah!" Cinder screeched when she tried to find a way in and the metal burned her hand. _ _   
_ _ "Well don't just stand there!" Amber was there, being unexpectedly helpful, "What's the point of having an inhuman monster arm if you don't use it?" _

_ "The doors are already caught, you won't be able to get her out that way!" Pyrrha added as she rounded the corner. _

_ "-Right."  _

 

_ It would be the one time Cinder actually appreciated the presence, be they real or figments of her subconscious. She tore off the singed red sleeve to toss aside, and drove her white claws into the roof of the ship's frame. Peeling back the metal and broken glass panel was surprisingly easy, but she had been told the arm would grow in strength. _

 

_ Winter stirred as Cinder reached in towards her with her human arm, using her grimm limb to dangle. The specialist tried to get away, but she couldn't even set up. _ _   
_ _ "-Get away from me, you bitch!" Winter hissed as Cinder summoned a small flame dagger to cut off her safety harness. _

_ "Curse at me later," She sighed and put out the weapon and scooped her up carefully, "Just hold on for now!" _

 

_ It didn't help. Winter weakly tried to shove her away as she leaped and landed outside the wreck. Cinder disregarded the smacks, and didn't worry about weapons. Right now, getting the girl away in case the ship exploded was a priority. _

 

_ "Cinder!" Pyrrha's shout rang behind her, "It's going to blow!" _

_ "This is going to be bad!" Amber shouted, "-forget our powers, use yours! It's your stupid fucked up broken heart and soul that got you here!" _

 

_ Cinder glanced over her shoulder and swore. She drew the Atlesian specialist against her chest, and called on something she hadn't in a long time-her semblance. But instead of using it to create shards, she willed the glass shards from the crash to form a shield over her back. It was barely done before the heat washed over her, and fire came crashing past them just over the edge. _

  
_ "Why," Winter whispered weakly, and Cinder appreciated that she'd stopped hitting her, "Are you helping me?" _ _   
_ _ "Because, Winter," Cinder sighed heavily, "You don't know it, but you're a lucky woman." _


	6. Act Two, Scene One

_After Salem's Downfall_   
_Cinder's Cell_ _  
_ Classified Location

_Atlas_

* * *

 

"-These are your terms?"

 

Winter raised a brow as she looked up from the loose leaf paper. She was surprised, because reports had indicated prior to Cinder Fall losing her natural left arm, she'd used it to pull her bowstring. And yet it seemed she had no trouble writing with her right hand.

 

"Make it so, and I'll be willing to talk to you, about one topic of your choice. Any topic, Specialist Winter Schnee."

 

Cinder waved an arm to dismiss her, like it would work. She'd eaten some that morning, mostly so Pyrrha in a golden toga tunic would stop fussing. The corn flakes and milk carton, though she left the rest. She was surprised by the range Atlas tended to their prisoners. Left behind had been hard boiled eggs and a fruit cup. . She'd been eating, but her appetite was still spotty at best.

 

Winter took note of the tray, and took a deep breath before she turned to the door.

"You'll be receiving a post surgical check up in the near future. Will you cooperate?"  
"I don't have magic anymore," Cinder eye rolled, and in the corner of her eyes, Amber scoffed, clad in a black dress once again.   
"Yeah, I can't imagine why they wouldn't trust you not to cause trouble."   
"I don't for one moment believe that means you're not dangerous, Cinder Fall," Winter's eyes shifted and Cinder knew where they fell.

 

Her left arm, no longer human. The flesh was dry, black, and clung to the bones of her arm. White claws marked the end of her finger tips, and Cinder supposed she could see Amber's point.

 

"I won't claw anyone, I swear," Cinder sighed and turned around, "You can tie it off or try to restrain it, if it makes you feel better."

"-I'll consult our security staff."

 

Winter stepped out, and Cinder was left alone with the ghosts of maidens she had killed.  
"What if they don't want to see me?"

 

It was the first time she'd really spoken to either of them. It was the first time she had a question she was afraid of the answer.

"Well, I mean, they did get captured because they went back for you," Amber flipped her hand at the wrist, "It's definitely not all you promised them."

"-They care, or they wouldn't have gone back for you at all." Pyrrha interrupted.

 

Cinder sighed and ignored them again, for the two bickered whenever Pyrrha showed compassion for her. She understood Amber's position of course, she just hated hearing them.


	7. Act Two, Scene Two

_The End of the War_

_Salem's Castle_

* * *

    _They'd breached the defenses. The girl with the silver eyes had learned how to control her magic. The Grimm had been powerless to stop their approach. Cinder had gone down so easily when she arrived. Her vision was blurred. She would have been shocked if more of her hadn't burned away. She had been delirious for a while, so certain Watts had appeared and cut on her with his scalpel._

_Then she'd heard the sound of heels on the tile floor. A blur of color, and she realized Emerald was next to her._   
_"Cinder! Oh my god-Mercury, help me!" She had crouched down to examine her._ _  
_ "Em, look at her gut-she's bled a lot-she's not going to make it-" He was a standing a short distance off, and he looked uneasy, "-If we're still here when the cavalry shows up-"

_"He's right," Cinder's voice had been weak, "Go. Get out of here. Leave me."_ _  
_ _"Not again!" Emerald practically screamed, "We didn't come all this way to find you just to leave you behind."_

_Haven. How long was it before she'd seen them again? Honestly, she'd lost sense of time in the darkness._

_"This isn't that," Cinder gasped and cried out with a hiss when Emerald tried to pick her up, "This is Beacon but worse."_

_"I can't-"_   
_"Emerald, they're coming!" Mercury shouted now and he reached a hand to the green haired young woman's shoulder._ _  
_ " _That's it-!" Emerald turned towards the entrance to the castle, "-They'll have first aid. Healers. First responders. Medics. They can help her!"_

_"No."_

 

_Cinder had tried to protest, but she'd already started to fade. Mercury was shouting at Emerald._   
_"-You can't expect me to turn myself in!"_   
_"I'm not telling you to, Mercury! But I'm not leaving her, either!"_ _  
_ "You know I won't leave you in the hands of the enemy!"

 

_Pyrrha had stood just in eye shot, and the red haired maiden looked scared. Her hands were over her mouth, but her image was becoming more blurred then Emerald and Mercury._

 

_The next thing Cinder remembered clearly was bright light and white walls._   
_"Emerald! Mercury!"_ _  
"Your associates have been detained, as you have been. General Ironwood personally made sure the boy could keep his legs after they were disarmed. The girl was asking about you."_


	8. Act Two, Scene Three

_ After Salem's Downfall _ __   
_ Interrogation Room _ _   
_ __ Classified Location

_ Atlas _

* * *

 

Cinder wasn't remotely surprised when Winter took the blindfold off her eyes. She'd been brought to an interrogation room, with an obvious one sided mirror. That was fine. She could whisper, if either of her teammates arrived. 

 

In the end, the solution to her monster arm had been a shock collar of all things. It was a metal ring around her neck now, and Winter carried the control. If she did anything the other girl didn't like, she'd flick it on with a press. It was bound to her biometrics and fingerprint-and took another tap to turn off. A safeguard so she couldn't just be killed, and Cinder would be free.

 

_ It's not like I have anywhere to go _ .

 

The truth was Cinder just felt numb and tired. Her cause, that which had driven her for so long, was lost. She had lost her powers, and Salem was gone. The war was over. 

 

Emerald and Mercury were all that mattered. Even if they hated her now.  She basically expected that they did; she had promised them the world, to control their own fates.

 

Instead, they had been captured because Emerald had insisted they get her medical attention.

 

The waiting got to her more then she had expected. There was no way of telling the time in that room, or how much had passed. Surely they wouldn't have walked her out all this way if neither of her teammates had agreed to see her?

 

Then again, this was Atlas. Perhaps they were hoping she would crack, waiting, and reveal some imagined evidence they could use to further their cause. She could practically feel Winter's cold gaze through the glass.

 

When the door finally opened, Cinder had been focusing her own glare back through the glass. She almost didn't hear it-but she did hear the cry of her name.

" _ Cinder! _ "

 

Oh. Sweet Emerald.  _ I should never have brought her into this. _ Salem's circle was of individuals who'd become sadistic or apathetic at best, and had surrendered their hearts to dark thoughts and causes. But Emerald had always- _ always _ -had a light in her. She was loyal and devoted; both to she and Mercury.

 

Cinder turned and stood up from her seat, suddenly uneasy about her monstrous appearance once again. She'd concealed the Grimmification of her arm as long as she could from her and Mercury, and even after she tried to hide how far it was spreading. But she was instead distracted when Emerald rushed forward to embrace her. The figure behind her was not Mercury, as Cinder had expected, nor was she alone-which she had also expected.

 

It was Hazel.

"I wasn't expecting you."   
"I insisted," Emerald bit her lip and looked up as the larger man nodded once, "He-after Haven he helped Mercury and I. When I found out he was here too..."

"Thank you," Cinder found the words before she knew she thought them, "For helping them then." Much of how she had escaped death in the vault was still a murky memory at best.

 

Hazel shook his head, as if to dismiss it. He said nothing though, simply observing them.

"He's in the cell across from Mercury's and mine. Mercury is next door-" Emerald trailed off then, "-Uh, Mercury-"   
"You don't need to make up an excuse, Emerald," Cinder sighed and grasped her hand, "I anticipated the possibility that he would not want to see me."

 

Emerald stood there still, looking guilty, and Cinder could already imagine the argument she'd had with Mercury about seeing her. She sighed and lifted her right hand to the younger woman's cheek, and Emerald looked up at her.   
"Don't blame Mercury, Emerald. I don't. Given where we found him in life-this is not what he expected to be the outcome when I recruited him."   
"But-" Emerald protested.   
"And you may need each other when this is done."

"What are you planning, Cinder?"

 

These were the first words Hazel expressed, and Cinder was surprised, but relieved. He had become protective of Emerald and Mercury. Good.

"I have...a plan," Cinder spoke quietly and drew her close then, whispering in her ear, " _ This offer is for both you and Mercury. Speak with whatever legal defense is available to you. Atlas may be a military state, but they insist on procedure and rules. You have a right to an attorney. _ "

"Huh?" Emerald's voice sounded confused, but Cinder wouldn't release her yet.   
" _ Blame everything on me. Tell them I coerced you. I manipulated you. If you have to, tell them I seduced you. I don't care. Make me the villain. Make yourselves out as victims _ ."

"Cinder!" Emerald tried to pull back again, but once again, Cinder didn't let her go. She shut her eyes, trying not to let the tears fall yet. She hadn't even realized she could still cry.

" _ I don't know if they'll let you two go free. But at the very least, you should be able to make a plea deal for a lighter sentence. I am so sorry, Emerald. _ "

 

And then she let her go, and Emerald was staring at her in shock. Her hands were over her mouth.   
"I can't do that! I  _ won't _ !"

"It's what I'll be telling my attorney," Cinder didn't whisper this, instead she turned back to the one sided mirror, "That you and Mercury were my peons, serving my whim."


	9. Act Two, Scene Four

_ After Salem's Downfall _ __   
_ Observation Room Across from Interrogation Room _ _   
_ __ Classified Location

_ Atlas _

* * *

 

"What the hell is she playing at?"

Winter gaped as she stood by the glass, wide eyed and confused. This was not what she had been expecting from letting Cinder meet with her associate. It had been suggested by Oscar Pine-now a young man, whose mind had settled with the memories of Ozpin at his disposal-that allowing Emerald to go in with Hazel might reveal additional information not otherwise at their disposal.

 

Oscar now stood in the corner of the room, leaning against the wall and spinning the familiar cane in one hand.   
"It would appear Cinder Fall is playing a new game, Winter," He spoke relatively calmly, "One only she is aware of the desired outcome of."

 

Winter turned and almost glowered at him, but between her and him, General Ironwood stood at parade rest.   
"You made a play, Winter. It was a good one, even if it didn't end how you hoped. I'm sure whatever that woman is doing will be revealed in time."

"General-" Winter began to protest, but he held up one of his hands, and she became silent.

"I understand why you're worried. We're all scared this war isn't really over. The horrors that were unleashed on the world-" He shook his head, "-But nothing more can be done with this situation. You made a negotiation with her-one conversation topic, if I'm not mistaken? You may consider if there's anything you can do to get a second. She seems to have ideas about what she wants to say to an attorney, perhaps connect her to one."

 

Winter's fists clenched as she looked back out at the scene. Cinder had crossed the room to whisper to Hazel, possibly to repeat whatever she had told Emerald. Then she glanced back to the General and nodded once.   
"Yes, Sir." She saluted and walked out of the room, leaving Oscar and Ironwood together. 

 

The general moved to the side of the room, where a pot of coffee was heating.   
"Will you be having any Oz-sorry, Oscar?"   
"Please, and it's alright," The young man chuckled softly, "It's strange, the silence. I haven't heard a word since Salem's seeming defeat, but I have all the information still there."   
"I wouldn't be surprised if he was simply dormant," Ironwood sighed, "It's still. Strange. But I suppose if what he told you is true-that he was a wizard-then I'll never understand. Magic is not my forte, science and technology is."   
"Because you believe those easier to understand," Oscar chuckled, "Ironwood. May I ask you a question that may seem personal but has professional implication?"

 

The general held out the mug of coffee to the young man, before producing a small flask to add a splash to his own.

"That's a very strange query you have in mind. I suppose I'll hear it, though I don't know how I'll answer yet."

"What is the nature of your relationship with Cinder Fall?"

Ironwood choked on the coffee he'd had a sip of before turning to Oscar with wide eyes. He opened his mouth before he had words, because he was quite sure he had told  _ no one _ about that. The affair-if it could be called an affair-had been a brief and torrid thing, at the 74th Vytal Festival. As the war had continued he'd become more certain it was all a ruse to get close to him, to distract him, and possibly to gain access to his system. The Cinder he'd become fond of was a mask: a strong, intelligent, bold, and beautiful young woman with the capacity for compassion. Now he believed Cinder Fall was certainly intelligent, perhaps strong, and objectively beautiful. But she was not the girl he had make the mistake of trusting to any extent before the war began. She was a killer.

"I ask," Oscar finally spoke, and it drew Ironwood out of his thoughts, "Because you speak about her the way Ozpin spoke of Salem."

 

That was a disturbing thought. Ironwood frowned as he looked at him.   
"I'm not sure I understand."   
"You do anything you can to avoid using her name. You call her 'her', 'that woman', or 'the woman'. Sometimes you call her villain. But it's very rare you call her by name. Ozpin only identified Salem when he had to provide her name for information reasons."

"I see," Ironwood exhaled, "I'm sure it's not the same."   
"That," He waited till the general tried to drink again, "And Winter seems to have a more personal vendetta against the woman. I have to assume that means she wronged you in some personal way. You're one of the few things I know to tick off her temper like that. If I didn't know better, I'd almost say she was jealous."

Once again, Ironwood choked on his coffee.


	10. Act Two, Scene Five

_ Before The War _

_ The Night Before Beacon Tower Fell _

_ Beacon Academy Guest Dorms _ _   
_ _ Team CEMN's Room _

* * *

 

_ "My name was Ai Zhang." _

 

__ _ Cinder had seemed so vulnerable when she'd spoken the words, like she was revealing a secret she'd almost forgotten. She'd been less in control that evening when they'd partaken in one another, and Ironwood had almost detected a desperation in her motions. But right then she was curled up atop his chest, head against his metal shoulder, almost hidden by her long black hair. _

_ "Was?" _

 

__ _ He'd said it to coax further words from here, but what surprised Ironwood was he knew the name. Granted, the image conjured by the name was a child at a vytal festival dance many years earlier, while he was still a student. She'd been there with her father, a Huntsman and representative  from Mistral. He could remember how tired the man looked, and how hopeful the little girl's eyes were. She'd been asking for a dance, one more dance before they left. It had so happened the music was moving in a foxtrot direction-a dance that he had been particularly talented at, as it was his favorite. _

 

__ _ Cinder had been silent for a long few moments, but then she spoke again. _ __   
_ "It was a long time ago. I lost...everything. I don't consider myself her anymore. Ai Zhang feels more like a different person, who died. She's not someone I can become again." _ _   
_ __ "What happened to her, then?" He idly reached out to touch her hair, considering her face. He knew she was younger-she was a student from Haven, if an older one. That didn't necessarily mean she'd been born in Mistral though, did it? Even if that name sounded like she had.

_ "Her mother died when she was born," Cinder sighed, "Her father, when she was a child. But only after he remarried a two faced woman, who hated his daughter. When they were left without the renown of his presence, Ai's step mother and half sister turned on her. Tortured her. Emotionally, mostly. But physical abuse wasn't uncommon. So Ai grew up believing she was worthless. And then when she was a young woman of sixteen, she trusted someone she shouldn't have. A charming, handsome, man who had spoken sweet nothings into her ear and praised her. She ran away with him and thought that becoming his wife would become the beginning of a better chapter. She was wrong." _

__ _ He hadn't realized his arm had curled a little closer around her waist. No, Ironwood hadn't fallen in love with this young woman. But an infatuation of some form was there. She expressed herself so casually, even sexually. She seemed quite talented at making him blush, which was no easy feat. Perhaps he would have called her a dear friend? _

_ "What happened to him? And her?" Ironwood spoke softly. _

_ "-She became pregnant. She lost the child. He had a part in it. He died. She found a new path." _

 

__ _ It seemed abbreviated, but the briskness that Cinder spoke it suggested she didn't wish to expand on any of it. He pet her hair softly as he considered her words. _ __   
_ "I am honored you trust me enough to tell me about this other girl." _ _   
_ __ "I don't know why I am," Cinder admitted as she looked up at him, and he saw her golden amber eyes were watering with tears, "But I was suddenly overcome by the memories today. And I suppose I needed to tell someone. Or it was going to make me burst."

 

__ _ That night, as he'd reassured her, held her, kissed her, and adored her, Ironwood had wondered if she'd even told her teammates. Shortly after, he'd challenged if any of it was real. Though he had run a background check on Ai Zhang-and discovered her story was real. The little girl he had once delighted with a simple dance had lost her father shortly after. Her address had changed. At sixteen she had gotten married-only legal because it was in rural outskirt community in Mistral. By seventeen, she'd been hospitalized for suspected domestic abuse several times. The final time had featured a miscarriage. Shortly after, her husband had died-though he'd been unable to determine his cause of death. And that was where Ai Zhang's trail had dried up. _

__ _ Still. It felt more likely that Ai Zhang was just a name Cinder had picked; an identity she had borrowed to earn his sympathy. Even if it didn't make sense to why she warned him to back-up Penny, and when her plan was so close to conclusion, why bother? _


	11. Act Three, Scene One

_ After The War _

_ Atlas Military Headquarters _

_ Specialist Schnee's Office _

* * *

 

All the trouble to organize that meeting, and all Winter knew was that Cinder had a new game plan to handle the aftermath. It was something Emerald Strusai seemed unhappy about, and Hazel Reinhart seemed intrigued by. After Emerald had returned to her cell and quietly repeated whatever message to Mercury. All three had lawyered up, though Hazel seemed to be doing it more out of solidarity.

And Cinder had promised her  _ one _ conversation topic. Winter was staring at a legal pad before her, having found handwriting scrap notes easier than operating a stylus on her scroll. Her calligraphy was neat and fine, lady lessons she'd never forgotten. And she had made a list of three topics, with pros and cons beneath each. The first was the one she knew she  _ should _ ask, as it was the pressing security issue.

 

_ Salem's Contingency Plan. Did she have one? If so, what was it? How did she intend to implement it? _

 

And that really should have been what she asked. But she had other questions, two burning ones.

 

_ Did you save me from the Dragon? If so, why? _

 

That was in fact the most prominent question, and it was personal. Winter frowned, and her eyes shifted to the final question. That one made her afraid; it was the most revealing about her.

 

_ Why did you seduce, manipulate, and betray General Ironwood? _

 

Winter honestly figured she knew the answers to the third question-information. Furthermore, she wasn't  _ supposed _ to know about the relationship at all. Ironwood had never officially put it to paper, and he certainly hadn't intended to tell her.

 

"If I didn't know better, I'd say the Ice Queen was cracking."

 

Winter jerked upright and shoved her chair backwards. She'd been too distracted to notice his arrival, or how he got into her office because the door was locked, though the window was open, she supposed he could have climbed. However, there stood Qrow Branwen, standing on the back of the chair and balanced precariously.

 

"I tried the front, but your door is locked," He chimed as he produced his flask to swig from.   
"I did not wish to be disturbed," Winter growled, "What are you doing here?"   
"I have intel, and Jimmy Boy is tighter locked up then you are," He glanced at her list idly, "-is he...reacting? To the girl?"   
"I don't know what you mean," Winter murmured, though she knew he knew-he was half of how  _ she _ knew.   
"-Eh," Qrow shrugged, deciding not to push it as he stepped down to sit in the chair, "-I'm not sure how many of her circle are actually dead."   
"What?" Winter's attention was drawn off her conversation topics by his suggestion, "What are you saying?"   
"I'm saying when we started, we thought Cinder was the last one alive," Qrow huffed, "Because do you remember that chamber when we found it?"

 

Winter shuddered as she recalled. It was the hall that Team RWBY had reported fighting Salem in, a chamber with a long table that probably been where her inner circle met to convene and discuss strategy and plans. However, in the aftermath, what they had found was three extremely burned bodies of whom they had then believed were Watts, Tyrian, and Hazel. The rest of the room was similarly burned, soot and smoke and burn marks on every surface. The general assumption at the time had been a suicide pact of some kind and had set off an incendiary device-or that Cinder Fall had slain the rest.

 

When they'd captured Hazel alive they'd had the bodies re-examined. Winter hadn't yet heard the result of any of them.

"Yes, I recall," Winter glanced at him, "What have you found out?"

"-Well, we've got no idea who the hell they used for Hazel's body double, only that he definitely wasn't Hazel. We think Tyrian may have been the real deal, but the tests are still coming back. But Watts-" He trailed off and glanced at Winter, "-This is going to go over really well. Or really badly, I think."

"Out with it, Branwen," Winter sighed heavily and reclaimed her chair.

"Jacques Gele Schnee," Qrow admitted, "Your father."

 

That...was a surprise. She knew he'd been dead, she didn't know how long. She'd gotten a very late letter from her mother about it. Well, he'd been assumed dead, his body gone. She supposed if burnt, and reclothed, he could make a very convincing stand in for Arthur Watts. Especially if the scene was so disturbing, no one was looking very closely.

 

She'd deal with her conflicted emotions about the news of her father's death later. For now, Winter frowned as she considered the prospect.

"So Dr. Arthur Watts is unaccounted for. That's not good," She murmured, eyes on her open window, "If she did have a contingency plan, then faking those deaths was an essential piece of the puzzle. I'm choosing not to assume that was Tyrian's body, either."

"Not the worst bet," Qrow nodded, "If you gambled."

"Prepare for the worst case and hope for the best," Winter shrugged and produced her scroll to make a notation, and update the general.

"-he has no idea you know, does he?"

 

Winter looked up and realized the other intelligence agent had returned to looking over her notes. She'd started to cross and scratch out the third topic when he'd appeared.

"-No," Winter answered simply, "He doesn't. He didn't tell me about it knowingly. It is not information he trusted me with. Nothing good can come from talking about it."

"If you say so, Ice Queen," Qrow shrugged as he walked to the door, "Except, I mean, he needs  _ someone _ to talk to about it before he winds up in a state again."

 

He shut the door, and Winter held her face. She didn't say anything for a long while, and sat in silence. But when she withdrew her hands, tears fell from her face onto the legal pad.  _ Damn Qrow Branwen if he's right. _


	12. Act Three, Scene Two

_ The Night after Beacon Tower Fell _

_ City of Vale _

* * *

_ Winter had spent a day doing paperwork and interviewing survivors. So many people had to be relocated; Vale's capital had been so densely populated. She'd lost track of how many people cried when she apologized and told them they would not be able to return to the city at present. So many were losing their homes and livelihoods, and her heart did ache for them. But she couldn't afford to show that, and she couldn't help them beyond sending them to a refugee centers that had popped up across Remnant. If they had relatives, that was where they'd send them. If they didn't, they'd evaluate their skills and consider the best fit.  _

 

_ The relocation and determination process was a step beyond her. Winter was simply managing information gathering and intake to record everyone who'd made it to evacuation center. By lunch, she'd found out her sister had been taken back to Atlas by their father. While it wasn't something Winter particularly liked, it meant she wasn't somewhere in the city, trapped or worse. That meant fifty percent of her reason for being there was concluded. _

 

_ She still hadn't located General Ironwood. No one could remember when they'd last seen him. A few young people had said something about him going back for his ship before it had exploded. Winter had dismissed the possibility of his death by that-she couldn't comprehend the possibility yet, not when she could already imagine a dozen ways he might have escaped. _

 

_ It was evening, and the dining hall was packed with volunteers and evacuees alike. Winter wasn't bothering getting a tray, because she didn't think any food would sit right then. It would be a waste to use the resources they had for that. Instead she was gazing out over the sea of faces, and biting the inside of her lip. It was a nervous habit, one she hadn't partaken in years, because despite countless classified and dangerous missions, she hadn't been afraid. _

 

_ Not until now. _

 

_ Her affections were completely against regulations, so she hadn't said or acted on them. As long as she didn't speak the truth, General Ironwood didn't need to react to it. She could do more for him, and Atlas, as his Second then anything else if she revealed her true feelings. _

_   
_ _ But at the moment all she could imagine was him walking in and confessing everything. Confessing that she'd cried for the first time since her final year at Atlas Academy on the flight over. Admitting that she couldn't live without him, and she didn't care that it wasn't proper because of their ages. Revealing the reason she had never had a real love life since school, and even then only the occasional singular and isolated date, was because no one could ever meet her standards-because they were based on him, James Ironwood. _

 

_ She had promised the powers that were that if he walked in with even moderate wounds, she would throw caution to the wind. She would stop concealing her feelings, and risk a different path in her career. _

 

_ But the general didn't walk in. _ _   
_ _ Instead the second to last face Winter would have liked to see (the first being her father) walked in. There stood Qrow Branwen, looking surprisingly unharmed, with his hands in his pockets. Before she could turn away, he spotted her, and she winced as he walked straight towards her. _

_ "Branwen." She murmured. _ _   
_ _ "I'm not looking for trouble-" Qrow drew his hands out, and reached for her arm, "But I need you to come with me. It's Jimmy." _

 

__ _ The last two words was the only reason she hadn't taken off his hand for attempting to grab her arm. Instead, Winter moved past him to the exit, only waiting for him because she realized she didn't know where they were going. However, when they reached alley beside the building, she almost stabbed him on principle. _ __   
_ "This is a bar, Branwen." _ __   
_ "Technically, it was a club," He answered as he knelt to pick a side door, "Now you see why I had to come get you." _ __   
_ "Excuse me?" _ _   
_ __ "I've never seen him like this, Winter. I mean, he probably has been before. Man's had a shit hand of a life. I know; birds of a feather and all that," The lock clicked and he swore, "And if you check around the front, you'll see my sense of urgency."

 

__ _ Winter frowned, but decided to entertain the notion while he fiddled with the door. She peeked out of the alley to get a better look at the front, and her blood ran cold. Crowded in front of the metal doors was a fair sized horde of Grimm. Something inside was drawing them, because they were trying to push in on the walls. She considered everything Qrow had said so far and returned beside him. _

_ "Move." _ __   
_ "I almost got it-" _ _   
_ __ "Move, Qrow."

 

__ _ Perhaps it was the use of his first name that made Qrow turn to look at her. But when he did, he leaped back, because she was already summoning a glyph to break down the door. _

_ "Holy shit, Ice Queen! A little warning next time!" He exclaimed when it burst inwards. _ _   
_ _ "I did give you one." Winter answered before proceeding inside. _

 

_ The difference between a bar and a club, she determined, was the presence of a dance floor and rave lights. Many of them had been broken, others were flickering. However, a handful were still blinking on and off in a strobe pattern. It irritated her eyes, but she kept focused on her task, and her eyes went wide when she finally spotted the general. _

 

_ A good amount of his uniform was gone. His outer jacket was completely absent. Most of the long sleeved shirt beneath it had burned off, revealing much of the cybernetics beneath that formed half his torso. The front of his pants on the right side was half burnt off, revealing additional metal. As if that wouldn't been enough to disturb her, Ironwood was slumped against the inner side of the bar. _

 

_ Winter rushed forward to him, and Qrow wasn't far behind her. _

_ "Sir!" Winter called out as she placed a hand to his neck, relieved to discover his vitals seemed to be fine, "Sir, where are you injured? General?" _ _   
_ _ "Winter-" Qrow tried to address her, but she wasn't listening. Winter was examining him, looking for a wound that could have kept him there. _

 

_ Ironwood slowly lifted his head to gaze up at them, and she realized abruptly that his eyes were red. Had he been crying? And his gaze was so distance, like he wasn't looking at her, but focused on something far away. _

 

_ "Of course she never cared about me. Of course she was just using me." _

 

_ Winter sat back, surprised by the murmured words, almost slurred, and the too familiar smell of alcohol on his breath. _ _   
_ _ "General?" She whispered meekly. _

_ "He's...not here right now. I'd say he checked out two bottles of whiskey ago," Qrow was crouched, examining empty bottles beside the slumped general. _

_ "But-why?" Winter whispered. _

_ "I can't say for sure, but I'd wager a broken heart. Didn't know Tin Man here had one, but apparently." _

 

_ Winter hated herself for the pang of pain and almost jealousy in her own chest. General Ironwood had trusted his heart to someone, and they had broken it. But it wasn't her. She banished the thought away, unwilling to deal with it when they still had to get him away. _

 

_ "Sir, please, get up," Winter moved and tried to slide her shoulders under his arm. He didn't help, but he didn't fight either, passive in the process. He didn't stop murmuring though. _

 

_ "She was so-fierce. Unafraid of anything. But I suppose she didn't have to fear rejection-it was all a lie, a trick," He laughed weakly, "Who could ever care about whatever I am now?" _

_ "She's cruel, whoever she was," Winter murmured as she turned to Qrow and mouthed 'help me'. He tucked away one of the bottles under his shirt, but then he was under Ironwood's other arm. _

_ "Aye, Ai was. If that was even true, it probably wasn't," Ironwood choked on a sob, "Another cruel jab at bygone better days. But someone who caused all of this destruction? She could only be cruel. And wicked." _

_ "All of this destruction?"  _

 

_ Winter blinked and turned to glance at Qrow in confusion. She, like most of the world, had only heard the beginning of the broadcast, and the Grimm swarming the city. She had no idea who was behind it, though she suspected Salem-an adversary Ironwood had informed her of in confidence. Apparently Ozpin didn't want anyone to know about her, or the maidens and their great power. Ironwood had decided that as Winter was his second, it would make it easier for her to find information about the threat if she had a better idea what to look out for. _

 

_ What shocked Winter was Qrow's wide eyed expression at Ironwood's drunken ramblings. _ _   
_ _ "No fucking way-" He proclaimed, "-No way. You. With her. That did not happen. I mean if for no other reason she was posing as a student!" _

 

_ That pang again. Winter gritted her teeth as she lifted her scroll. The CCT was down, but the local signal to her ship would work-she hoped. There was no way they could get far with him the way they were. _

 

_ "Yes, she was," He laughed weakly, "She made a very compelling argument about that the first time. That she was on the older side. That she wasn't my student. And there was just something about her voice so compelling," He snorted, "But the devil would wear a red dress, wouldn't she?" _

_ "Cinder?" Qrow questioned, "You were romancing Cinder Fall?" _ _   
_ _ "-not the word I would have used," Ironwood murmured, and Winter tried to remember the name. _

 

_ Hadn't she heard that name from some of the scared evacuees? A student from Haven who they said had been the one speaking over the broadcast? _

 

_ "Well, Jimmy, I'm hard pressed to guess how she got you to put yourself in such a state if it wasn't romantic," Qrow huffed, and Winter almost barked at him, until she saw his face. He looked as disturbed as she felt. He was rambling to deflect, wasn't he? Or perhaps to keep Ironwood awake? _

 

_ That made sense.  While he wasn't resisting their aid, if he fell unconscious, getting him out of the club was going to be much more difficult. _

 

_ "Sex. Seduction, I suppose. She played me like a fiddle, acting as though the understanding friend who didn't care I'm as much machine as man, if not more." _

 

I don't care!  _ Winter wanted to scream it, but knew better then to draw the attention. Besides, he didn't seem to be paying attention to her. Qrow knew how to talk to drunk people. Winter knew how to turn her mother on her side so if she puked she didn't choke. _

 

_ He rambled a couple more times, even as they loaded him onto her ship. Muttering about the red dress, her black hair, and her golden eyes that seemed like they held the answer to all of her confidence. That that was what had intoxicated him about her more then her beauty, or even her skill in combat-the confidence she carried herself with. _

 

_ Winter pulled open a curtain to unveil one of the beds built into the side of the craft, and they rolled Ironwood onto his side. _ __   
_ "Do we need to strap him in?" _ __   
_ "Hopefully not," Winter sighed, "The ship has gyro stabilizers, so even if it rocks, the inside should be stable. Unless it gets extreme..." _ __   
_ "Airborne Grimm extreme?" Qrow glanced at her, and Winter made a face. _ __   
_ "If enough of them appeared." _ _   
_ __ "You get going, get terrible taste back to Atlas, I'll give the beasties something to chase."

_ "Are you serious?" _

 

_ It wasn't that Winter was particularly worried about Qrow; but she didn't wish him dead, either. And given the swarm she'd seen outside the club-the swarm she had no doubt would be turning direction on them any moment-she thought that was a strong possibility. _

_ "I've got someone or something to find in the city anyway," Qrow waved her off, "Besides, when I'm done here, I've got family to check in on. If I'm not mistaken, so do you. Now get the hell outta here!" _

 

_ Oh she wanted to shout something. To hit him or shoot. But she couldn't fight any of his points. _ __   
_ "-Thank you." Winter answered simply as he crossed towards the exit. He paused at the end of the ramp, and grinned over his shoulder. _ _   
_ __ "Careful Ice Queen, don't go melting. I might almost think you're getting attached."

 

_ He turned back and flipped her off over his shoulder, and Winter set the ship to close the ramp before rushing to the cockpit to pilot. _

 

_ There was brief turbulence, caused by griffins pursuing them, but she soon out flew them. She landed at the evacuee center, deciding she wanted to have a medic available when he came too. If he'd let anyone examine him, that was. _

 

_ Getting him the short distance to the tent they'd provided her wasn't too difficult. Winter laid him out on his side on the cot, took a breath, and laid out on her personal bedroll. It was easier for her then adjusting to new cots or beds in her travels. _

 

_ She didn't realize she'd fallen asleep until she detected movement and stirred. Winter sat up, and Ironwood was on his way to doing the same with a groan. _ _   
_ _ "Winter?" He murmured as he held his head, "-when did you get here? Where did-what happened?" _

_ "-Branwen found you."  _

 

_ Winter abbreviated, making the decision not to go into where if he couldn't remember. The stupid spiteful pangs in her chest aside, she could tell what he'd rambled about, what had driven him to drink, was haunting him, and it was causing him a great deal of pain. She wouldn't bring it up. If he chose to tell her, or file an official report, then she might discuss it with him. _

 

_ "I arrived this morning, to assist with the evacuation, and to make sure my sister got away safely." _

 

_ But this wasn't her promise to the powers that were, either. She wouldn't discuss the storm of emotions in her own heart right then. Instead, she would catch General Ironwood up, and bring him home. _


	13. Act Three, Scene Three

_ After the War _ __   
_ Cinder's Cell _ _   
_ __ Classified Location

_ Atlas _

* * *

 

"I'd like to negotiate a second subject to speak to you about."

__

Cinder was surprised to hear Winter's voice behind her as the doctor finished his examination of her. Most of his face had been hidden-safety goggles, face mask, and surgical cap. She figured he was a germaphobe, or believed her Grimmifcation was contagious. The idea almost made her laugh.

__

The doctor walked out with his assorted samples, and Cinder turned to Winter as she pulled the scrubs shirt back on.

"You haven't used your first yet. And you're under the impression you have something else I want," She stated, pretending she didn't see Winter's face widen before she covered up.

__

It wasn't a surprise-even though part of her left shoulder was flesh, some of the skin on the left side of her torso had become the same shriveled black skin as her arm. She'd wondered if the silver eyed girl's blast on her at Beacon, and what had been done to counter it, was the universe's way of answering her wrong against Ironwood. Afterall, seduction had become a great deal more complicated after that night on the tower.

__

Winter cleared her thought and held her hands behind her back, in a way just like the general did, that made Cinder turn away.

"You have a goal. It appears to involve Emerald Strusai and Mercury Black. And it requires their legal representation-and your own. That much is clear. I can get all three of you what you need."   
"Nice try, Schnee," Cinder sighed and laid out on the bed, "But we're all legally obliged one anyway. I'm vaguely familiar with the laws around here."

"Yes. And that will be the first lawyer they can find willing to defend you and your associates for next to nothing. Even if you three weren't potential war criminals, public defenders are not known to be the most talented," Winter retorted, "Where as I can make some of my late father's lawyers available to you three. I'm sure you're familiar with the legal bypasses they had to arrange for him over the years. And obviously because they worked for him, ethics and morals won't hold them back if there's a paycheck available."   
  


Cinder rolled back on her side and leaned in her right arm to look at Winter, and considered the specialist's words.   
"Perhaps. But you're disowned. You don't have the funds available to you your late father did. I suspect your mother or brother do, unless your sister somehow got access again."

"My family's politics aside," Winter seemed unbothered by her references, "As a specialist within the Atlas Military, I am very well paid for my services."

"You really want that second topic," Cinder snorted softly, but she couldn't dismiss her point.

__

If these were the men who'd kepted Jacques Schnee from seeing the inside of a cell, then they might just be able to get Emerald and Mercury off with little to no time. She'd told Hazel the plan as well, in case Emerald tried to hold back her offer from Mercury. Besides, Cinder didn't want them to magically save her allies.

__

She had every intention to offer herself as a sacrifice in order to sate the public's need for a villain to punish.

Not that she'd expressed that idea yet. Amber had called her weak. Pyrrha had said she thought it was extreme.

But Cinder knew for a fact Atlas still believed in Capital Punishment.

And if nothing else, she was a killer. She, personally, had taken many lives-including the two ghosts that continued to haunt her.

__

That was information for her lawyer.

__

"Done," Cinder replied simply and agreed, turning to Winter, "I'd offer to shake hands to seal the deal, but I doubt you'd accept."   
"The significance of the offered gesture is acknowledged," Winter nodded, "I'll make the calls immediately."   
"You don't want your first topic?" Cinder raised a brow, "Specialist Schnee, your honor is not in question here."

__

Winter paused and considered before she turned to Cinder and met her eyes. She was surprised, very few could look her in both human golden eye and Grimm red. However, Winter's grey blue eyes were unwavering.

__

"Salem. Did she have a contingency plan in case of her defeat?"

__

Huh. They were really worried about that. Cinder kept her face calm, but some of her surprise may have conveyed in her voice.

__

"As far as I know, she never considered the possibility that she'd lose the war. If she had a contingency plan, she never told me about it," She huffed softly, "-Why? I noticed one of those questions about Salem's remains. Have you not found them?"

"You don't know?"   
"The last thing I remember clearly is that Ruby Rose destroyed me, trying to tell Emerald not to be stupid about bringing me to your forces, and waking up here," Cinder deadpanned, "I have no idea what happened to Salem after I went down."

"I see," Winter frowned and looked away, then paused, "-when you first arrived we thought you were the last of her inner circle alive, you know."

"Well you and I both know that's not true," Cinder rolled her eyes, "With Hazel and all."

"Yes. Now we have every reason to believe Watts and Tyrian are still alive as well."

__

On that note, Winter walked out, and Cinder had to consider those words. Why would they have thought they were dead, if they weren't? She frowned and turned away from the door to consider the most recent encounter.

__

_ Why did she want an additional topic? What else could they want from me? _

__

"Maybe-" Pyrrha considered, appearing once again in her golden armor. Honestly it was a relief, that her ghosts had reverted to their more traditional clothing then their eerie black and red dresses. "-maybe it's about the incident with the dragon?"

"That's what she was asking about before," Amber sighed, "So why did she use this question on Salem?"   
"Because," Cinder answered them, probably because she felt better about it then talking to herself, even if she knew that was what she was probably doing, "The playing field changed. Before, I was the last one of Salem's allies alive, so the lack of confirmation of Salem's death wasn't as big a deal. Now Hazel has turned up, and Tyrian and Watts appear to be alive as well. Winter Schnee is desperate to know more about that day in Salem's Domain, but she's also honorable and loyal. She will never put her personal desires before Atlas. But she can personally offer me things like, say, skilled lawyers who have no compunctions about working with guilty clients, thus enabling a second conversation topic."

"-She's not wrong," Pyrrha agreed and nodded, "Yeah, that sounds about right."

"And you, Cinder? Will you live up to your word?" Amber snorted.   
"I don't see why not," Cinder shrugged, "In order to ensure the best ending for Emerald and Mercury, the game may need to continue after I'm out of play. If I don't meet my word, Winter can always pull back payments. I've got nothing to lose by playing my final rounds against Winter Schnee."

"She's going to ask why you did it," Pyrrha sighed, "You know that."   
"First she's going to ask if I did it and why. And if so, I'll say what I did before," Cinder smiled wryly as she turned to the bottle of anti nausea meds the doctor have left beside her breakfast tray, "But the why of the why? That's a third topic."


	14. Act Three, Scene Four

_ After The War _

_ Atlas Military Headquarters _

_ General Ironwood's Office _

* * *

 

Of course, waiting for Winter to leave wasn't a question. He knew she'd detail every word of her discussion with Cinder in a report. She'd even reviewed her plan ahead of time and asked permission to push a personal trade of information and services. The good thing about being in charge of the entire Atlas Military, and having two seats on the council-there was still some question about which Schnee would be taking over Jacques's, but that was also in Winter's favor-was that allowing such arrangements was possible.

 

Still, after what Penny had said-that she'd heard Cinder talking to Pyrrha Nikos-Ironwood had to find out what the result would be of Winter's offer. Namely, if it made Cinder particularly talkative when she was seemingly alone in her cell. It was possible he'd taken a direct swig from his flask before turning on the surveillance feed to her cell. He'd seen her once since Beacon Tower fell-only once, and it had been during the final attack on Salem's Domain. And even though it had been passing, it brought back all the heartache of her betrayal-no matter what she looked like.

 

_ I'm hardly one to talk to _ . He unconsciously reached to touch his metal right arm, concealed by the sleeve of his uniform.

 

When he did turn on the feed, he was surprised how little time passed before she spoke. It definitely had long enough pauses for it to seem like she was having a discussion with someone he couldn't hear. Ironwood considered briefly if he should send for anti-psychotic medication for her, as she seemed willing to take the anti-nausea medication. He found himself thinking of when he'd found her in the guest dorm that final time. She'd been collapsed on the floor, a syringe of an unknown substance on the ground beside her. He'd taken the chance and injected it into her arm, and in turn, Cinder had eventually come to. They only briefly discussed it, but the implications were that it was a medical treatment.

 

_ Could she simply be insane? _

 

Ironwood didn't know how he felt about that possibility. Obviously even if she did have some sort of cognitive dissonance, it didn't slow her down. She was obviously capable of functioning, hell, she was capable of scheming and plotting. Her actions were all very deliberate. He couldn't believe she was just Salem's pawn, following orders. It just didn't match what he knew of her-even if their friendship had been a lie.

 

_ Is that what I call a friendship? _

 

Sex. They'd had that a few times, which was why he questioned if 'friendship' was the right word. He hadn't been in love. Attracted, perhaps. She was a very attractive...acquaintance.

  
Ironwood rubbed his forehead and looked away from the screen once Cinder settled down to eat. He probably should have been more disgusted by how much of her physical appearance had change; the arm and eye the most visible. But the first medical report had indicated the condition, designated 'Grimmification', climbed further along her body, though it focused on her left side.

 

_ Between the two of us there's a single full human being. _

 

It was a wry self deprecating thought. He almost imagined sharing it with her. Their conversations had always been unusually casual for him.

 

She'd given him opportunities he wouldn't have had without her. He still couldn't understand how some of them benefited or furthered Salem's cause.

 

But there was that one incident that he couldn't understand the purpose of.

 

* * *

_ "What are you doing?" He'd still been holding the blindfold, sitting at the edge of the bed. Cinder had emerged from the bathroom and gone for her coat, doing something on her scroll. He hadn't been afraid she was recording or blackmailing him, though he should have been. There were earbuds plugged into it, and she sighed as she clicked items. _

_ "Providing a fantasy I think you need a lot more than naughty schoolgirl." _

 

_ She'd sat down in his lap as he gave her an odd look. _ __   
_ "Come again?" He'd tilted his head and lifted his brow as she draped across him. _ _   
_ __ "Whoever she is. You'll never get the closure you need. But if I can't hear her name, and you can't see me."

 

_ She slipped the buds in her ears and flicked on her scroll. For a moment he'd worried about her hearing because of how loud it was playing. But then she was moving then, loosely tying the blindfold around his eyes.  _

 

_ "Then for tonight, at least, you can pretend. Lie to yourself that you're here with the person you wish you could be-not the temptress from Mistral." _

 

_ He had started to protest. He had almost gotten a word out, but then she'd spoken again, and the Nutcracker Suite had begun to blare from her ear buds. _

 

_ "...Please. I want this." _

 

_ It had undone him. It had brought him back to a very different incident, when a certain young woman had met with him at a debutante ball. She had told him, insisted to him, that she wanted not to be the heiress of the Schnee Company as her father had made-but that she wanted to honor the memory of her grandfather, to attend Atlas Academy, and serve her nation as a Huntsman. _

 

_ The person he wished he could have been with. _

 

* * *

__

"Wow is she speaking like she's going to die or what?"

 

Even though he knew exactly who's voice pulled him from the confusing memory, Ironwood drew his gun from his drawer and opened fire with three shots.

 

Qrow squawked in protest, though he dodged out of the way with surprising poise. His ridiculous cape may have gained a new hole or two, but he didn't.   
"Jeeze, Jimmy, I'm not the one creepily watching my captive ex."

 

Ironwood groaned softly and turned to him. He still had no idea how Branwen had found out about the entire affair, but he appreciated that Ozpin's agent-who he supposed might now be Oscar's agent-had the discretion not to tell anyone.

 

Instead he just reminded him in private. Constantly.

  
"I'm gathering information, that's all," Ironwood stated calmly as he rewound the recording of her conversation with air, though he paid a little closer attention to what she was saying.  _ Huh _ .

 

Qrow was right. Something about her words did have a certain finality to them.  _ Out of play. Final rounds. _

"Maybe her condition is finally catching up with her, the medical exam will reveal something if so," Ironwood turned off the feed to turn to Qrow, "Is there a reason you broke into my office?"   
"You left the door unlocked," Qrow sighed, "You know that thing you asked me to check? Well, I got in touch with my contact. You're lucky, whoever this Ai Zhang chick you were wondering about is? She almost didn't have anything you could test. But apparently after her final hospitalization she got arrested for manslaughter, so they did a full work up. DNA samples, dental records, and fingerprints."

 

He tossed a closed manilla envelope on his desk, and Ironwood felt a strange relief.   
"So she was arrested for manslaughter recently?" It couldn't be the woman sitting in their high security cell then. Ai Zhang was still out in the world, living life, if perhaps behind bars now.

"I did not say that, I said after her final hospitalization. Like. The day after," Qrow shrugged, "Apparently the charges didn't stick. Something about self defense and her husband being an abusive asshole who'd caused a miscarriage because he beat her so bad. The reason she was in the hospital, actually."

 

Oh. That was less reassuring. It could still theoretically be lies-there's no reason Salem, and in turn Cinder, couldn't have gained information to steal her identity.

"So the most recent record is from some years ago?"   
"That's the case," Qrow paused, as if something was registering in his mind, and he reached for the envelope again.

 

Ironwood was there first, sweeping the intel into a draw in his desk and closing it. Yes, he was almost entirely sure Ai Zhang was  _ not _ Cinder Fall. But if he was wrong, he wanted to find out alone. He definitely didn't want Qrow to tear open the folder and decide it was so.

"Thank you, Qrow."

"Hey, what do friends so?" Qrow paused, then snickered ,"Or maybe I should watch my phrasing, if you consider her an ex-friend, not girlfriend."

"-Is there anything else?" Ironwood suppressed the groan he almost released.   
"Yeah, one thing," Qrow gestured to the round, small flask on Ironwood's desk using his own, having produced it from his side, "Quit drinking so much. Unlike assholes like me, you have shit to live for and a country to run."

 

Ironwood was so stunned by  _ who _ was saying it, he honestly forgot to respond as Qrow walked out of the room and waved as he left. He shook his head clear of it and sighed as he pulled open the drawer again, producing the intel file, and a much thinner envelope. He opened the latter, producing a sheet of five fingerprints, labeled 'right hand, Jane Doe', and put it back before picking up his scroll to make a call to the labs.

 

"Yes, this is General Ironwood. I'm requesting two contrasts-sets of fingerprints, and two DNA records."


	15. Act Three, Scene Five

_ The End of the War _

_ Atlesian Military Satellite Camp _

_ Salem's Domain _

* * *

 

_ "Ruby Rose and Jaune Arc report that Salem has been defeated. They and their teams have been collected by our field medics to have their wounds treated. We've won." _

 

_ Winter had, of course, refused to stay out of action after her crash in Salem's domain. So she was the one listening to the radio feeds and announcing this to their base camp's temporary headquarters. Her face when she said the words was surprise, but it shifted to a moment to pride. Ironwood didn't have to ask why-her younger sister was on Ruby's team. It was very likely she had played a part in the defeat of their enemy. _

 

_ Ironwood was resisting an uncharacteristic smile himself at the news. If Salem was truly defeated, then things could calm down. Security measures would soon be able to lower across Remnant. They could focus on recovery, rebuilding, and the future. _

 

_ The future. _

 

_ He shouldn't have looked over at his second again at that thought. When he'd found her after her crash, her face had been half covered in blood. She had a long jagged scar now, from the wound that had been bleeding. It was diagonal, crossing from one side of her forehead all the way down to her chin. _

 

_ Honestly, it made her all the more fetching. _

 

_ Before he could have another thought that danced on 'inappropriate', shouting drew their attention. Winter tensed, her hand holding a radio cuff to her ear again, and her eyes widened. _ __   
_ "General! There's-three of the enemy are at the edge of camp. They're surrendering. They're demanding medical attention." _ _   
_ _ "They're  _ what __?!" Ironwood stared at her in shock. That didn't make sense. Why would any of Salem's lackeys simply surrendered? Hazel wasn't the type. Tyrian wasn't balanced enough. Watts-well, he'd have never gone through it once he saw it was Atlesian forces on the ground.

 

_ That only left- _

 

_ No. It couldn't be. Earlier reports were that Ruby had already handled Salem's Maiden. That woman wouldn't have been in any state to surrender, though yes, she would have needed medical attention. _

_ "-Allow it," Ironwood murmured as he turned away to the tent's exit, "I'll take measure." _

 

_ He hadn't considered that Cinder had people too, not until he saw the green haired young woman and grey haired young man hauling a limp form he almost didn't recognize. _

_ Almost. _

 

_ Context was everything, and the fact that it was Emerald Strusai and Emerald Black indicated quite a bit. And while aspects had change, she still had black hair, and she still wore a red dress. _

 

_ "Cinder." _

 

_ He hadn't realized he'd said her name out loud until Emerald whirled to look at him. Her red eyes were wide and wet, and her entire face showed fear. No-worry, or concern. _

_ "We're your prisoners now, right? Which means you've got to keep her alive!" _ __   
_ "Em, I really don't like this-" Mercury spoke as he looked around, "-this is a really bad idea!" _ _   
_ _ "We're already here, and I told you that you didn't have to come!" Emerald shouted back before she turned back to Ironwood, " _ Please! __ I know you think she's a bad person, and yeah, she's probably done some pretty horrible things. Haven't we all? But she's not-I owe her everything!"

 

_ "-Of course." He answered calmly and managed to keep his expression neutral and he waved down some of the field medics. No one questioned it, and he was sure they were all coming up with much more logical and rational explanations then the reality. _

 

_ No one even saw him going into the field infirmary before they left. He'd been surprised to see the physical changes the woman had undergone, and quickly realized he'd only have half of what he was there for. That said, he'd applied the ink to her fingertips on to the dense card for capturing the images of her prints. It would be the first step to finding out once and for all if she was simply a wicked woman, or a ghost of his past. _

 

_ The second followed shortly after when he followed the merriment and celebrations. He passed one of the soldiers losing an arm wrestling match with Miss Xiao Long-though she appeared to be using the arm he'd sent to her home all that time ago. Someone had given Arc a guitar, and he was now strumming while Weiss sang along. Ruby was apparently napping against Oscar's shoulder, and the man who'd been hosting Ozpin looked completely flustered. Even Winter was there, having loosened her uniform and scarf, allowing herself the rare moment of relief. _

 

_ He found Qrow exactly where he'd expected, raiding the commissary and looking for alcohol. _

_ "Branwen, I need a favor." _ _   
_ _ "Are you kidding me?" Qrow turned to look at him, "Jimmy, didn't you hear? We won. We survived. Go celebrate like everyone else! Go propose! Go make babies! Go start a life! I'm off the clock for the rest of the night, maybe the rest of the week!" _

_ "No urgency," He held up a hand and reached for a key ring onto his belt, "But I know you still have contacts. I need you to go to Mistral, and find out anything you can about a woman named Ai Zhang. She'd have been born...between twenty and thirty years ago." _ __   
_ "And why would I do this?" _ __   
_ "Because I know where they locked up the alcoholic beverages, and I have the key," He tossed it over, and a startled Qrow caught it. _ __   
_ "-You're giving this to me?" _ __   
_ "You've proven yourself quite a few times as fairly reliable. I don't think you'll let me down. As I said, when you get the chance." _ __   
_ "Bull shit no urgency!" Qrow protested as Ironwood turned to leave, "How do you know I won't forget? Or just not do it?" _ _   
_ __ "Because you're going to be too curious," He chuckled, "Because I'm asking you to do this, not Winter."

 

_ There was silence for a long moment, but he heard frustrated cursing behind him as he reached the exit. A wry smile crossed his face, because that was the sound of Qrow confirming what he'd said.  _


	16. Act Four, Scene One

_ After the War _ __   
_ Cinder's Cell _ _   
_ __ Classified Location

_ Atlas _

* * *

 

Schnee proved as dependable as Cinder had expected. A day after they'd last met, a lawyer appeared. He seemed a despicable man, but he seemed to know what he was doing. Granted, what Cinder asked him seemed to startle him.

__

"But-why?" He looked up from the paper she had scribbled down her desire on. Cinder sighed and gestured at herself.   
"I made myself a monster. There's not much I can do at this point."   
"You could-I mean-"   
"I'm sure you're a very good lawyer," Cinder exhaled, "But I am publicly known as a villain. My voice broadcasted and narrated the fall of Beacon. I plan to admit to all of my crimes, and confess. Can you make a guilty plea of that, on the terms provided, or not?"   
"You do understand plea bargains usually are in exchange for a lesser sentence, don't you?" He stared at her.   
"Yes," Cinder answered dryly, "As this is. I assure you, I told Hazel to repeat this intent to my associates. There's the a possibility that Emerald won't bring it up to her lawyer. But I won't be shocked if Mercury jumps on the idea."

"And you think he'll do it?" He looked at him, "This Hazel fellow?"

"Yes," Cinder answered simply, "He has a weakness for kids. And...they're just kids, really. I'm the villain here. I coaxed them into helping me."

"-did you really kill all of these people?" He looked up, "At least one of these is a very high profile missing person's case."   
"Does it matter if I did? I'm saying I did." She groaned, "-That said, cross reference some of those. I'm not taking the blame if Adam Taurus killed any of them. If he's still alive, he deserves whatever the fuck is coming to him, asshole."

"Wasn't he your ally?" The lawyer blinked.   
"Out of necessity."

__

She eventually coaxed him into taking her offer, not to the courts, but to Emerald's and Mercury's lawyers. What she wanted, she hoped, would help their cases. It involved several clever lies, but she was sure she could play them off. He left the room, and she sat at the edge of her bed, and waited.

__

She'd expected Winter to appear hours later at most. It was over a day, by her calculation, based on the arrival of meals.

__

"I'm not sure what you said, but I've never seen that man so disturbed. And he was around my home enough I thought he was family as a child."

__

Cinder snorted softly, an arm draped over her eyes as she laid out on the bed. When she realized Winter wasn't coming right in, she'd resolved not to sit there waiting.

__

"While I'm sure he's used to a complete lack of ethics and morals working for your father, your father asked him to get him off. I don't want that. I want to feel the full extent of my actions, and have the book thrown at me. All that jazz."   
"Your associates-" Winter began.   
"Emerald should have never traded her freedom for my life," Cinder answered simply, "But she did. Which means if I can trade back, I will."

__

There was a strange silence in the air for a long while. She almost believed Winter had left, until the specialist spoke. Her voice was surprisingly soft.

__

"You're not going to get any sympathy trying to sacrifice yourself, you know."

"I'm not trying to," Cinder responded simply, "I'm tired. I'm a bad guy. I lost. Villains who lose get punished."

"No. That's not what's happening here," Winter's voice continued to show confusion, "You're trying to trade your life for theirs. For your associates."

"Is this really the second conversation topic you want to trade for those attorneys' time, Schnee? Trying to understand my motivations? I was convinced it was going to be about the incident with the Dragon."

__

That earned another blessed silence.   
"Did that really happen?" Winter finally spoke, her voice less soft. Cinder sighed and removed her arm to sit up and face her.

"Going to need you to be a little more specific."

"Did you save my life when the Dragon attacked me, when we attempted the incursion in Salem's domain?" Winter clarified, and Cinder realized her arms weren't in parade rest. They were hanging at her side.

"-Yes," Cinder answered, rather then draw it out.

__

She was tempted, but she hadn't been entirely lying before. She was sore and tired lately, she suspected she was going to die anyway. Perhaps a response to losing the powers, or the removal of the Grimm Scarab that had kept her alive. One way or other, Cinder suspected death was coming for her, and soon.

__

"Can you tell me exactly what happened that day?" Winter exhaled, "It's a bit blurry for me."

"I imagine you had a concussion and blood loss, I would imagine it was," Cinder laughed despite herself and sighed, "I-heard about the Atlesian Airships that had arrived. Watts was raving about them. So I went outside to check it out. I watched the battle. I saw you distracting the dragon, I saw you going down, I saw the dragon chasing you."

__

It was definitely the reader's digest version, but Cinder didn't exactly see the point in telling her about Amber and Pyrrha, who might not have been real. Then there was the matter of her listening to the radio-hearing Ironwood's voice and  _ knowing _ Winter was. Well.

__

A woman he loved but couldn't be with. Because she was a student, and then she started to work for the military. A woman who's name was two syllables, and sounded similar to Cinder's.

__

Winter.

  
But that wasn't her secret. That wasn't actually part of the story.   
"So I took to the air. I launched myself. I sent the Dragon the other way. When the ship crashed, I tore it open to pull you out. I brought you a short distance in case in exploded. And I stuck around to make sure none of the local Grimm ate you or anything until signs of Altesian Rescue occurred."

"You  _ what _ ?" Winter seemed startled by the last part, "-If that was true then why didn't anyone-"   
"You were unconscious, and as soon as I knew help was on the way, I made myself scarce," Cinder snorted softly, "I was not keen on trading you off. I have a reputation as a cold hearted bitch, remember?"

"But you saved me anyway."

__

She sighed and laid back down. The truth was she had been expecting to literally wave down the rescue party. But when Cinder had seen who was coming for Winter-she couldn't face him. So she'd disappeared, and simply watched to make sure they got away safely.

__

"Why?" Winter whispered then, "Why did you save me?"   
"I told you then, Winter, though I'm not sure you remember," Cinder sighed, feeling very tired and dropping her title for the time being, "Because you're a lucky woman."

"So-what? I'm lucky because you randomly decided to save my life? Me, arguably your enemy? In war times? When I led an attempted invasion on your mistress's realm?"

"-First of all, she was my leader, not my mistress, only Tyrian called her that," Cinder rolled her head to the side to look at Winter and sighed, "Just like I don't call Ironwood your master. He's your general. Your leader."

__

The very slightest hint of pink crossed the specialist's cheeks, and Cinder couldn't suppress a small smirk.  _ I knew it _ . Ironwood had mentioned some of the antics of the woman he'd loved. A student who'd excelled but still come to his office after hours for help. She knew enough to know you don't go to your headmaster for help with your studies, you go to the teacher who assigned it-unless learning isn't your goal. The point was the then unknown woman wanted to spend time with Ironwood.

__

Apparently the implied connotations of 'master' and 'mistress' when placed in that context caused Winter to understand; and hinted at her own affections. Cinder suspected, strongly, that she hadn't said anything about her feelings either.

__

_ Idiots _ .

__

"Second, you aren't lucky because I rescued you," Cinder continued, "I rescued you because you are lucky."

"Why would you say that? My life is not one of luck!" Winter almost snapped it, but she calmed herself, "-everything in my life is earned. I have fought tooth and nail to make my life my own. Luck has nothing to do with it."

__

Cinder paused to consider her, and nodded.   
"I mean I could argue you had advantage at birth which put you in the position to become fortunate in the way I consider, but you're not wrong," She smiled a small genuine thing, "I suspect you did earn it. All the same, the reason I consider you lucky-earned or not-is why I saved you."

__

Winter's expression became baffled. Cinder suspected she was going through a series of emotions, trying to evaluate every word.   
"I was not lucky by birth and position," Winter spoke quietly, "I was a tool, and my birth, my name, we chains and shackles."

"Yes, well, my mother died when I was born, and my father lasted long enough to marry a horrible woman, with whom he created a horrible sister," Cinder sighed, "Oh, and we lived in caves. So I think I like your shackles a lot better then mine, Schnee."

"You wouldn't if you'd lived in them."

__

Cinder considered Winter's expression. Her face betrayed little. But her stance and her eyes-those said much. Clearly Cinder had touched a nerve, and Winter had already been shaken by the course of their conversation so far.

__

"You're probably right," Cinder acknowledged, "But I wouldn't wish mine on anyone either."

"Who are you?"   
"That's another topic," Cinder snorted softly, "And that is not one you can negotiate for."   
"Fine," Winter exhaled and shifted. Her cool calm was returning, and her arms were behind her back in parade rest once again, "Why do you consider me lucky?"

__

Cinder smiled wryly and looked at Winter before she shook her head.   
"That's another topic."   
"Are you serious?" Winter's eyes narrowed, "After everything-I met your request, Cinder. Both of them."   
"And I told you all I knew about Salem's contingency plans-which I admit wasn't anything," Cinder stood up and crossed her arms, shriveled left over right, "And I told you about the incident with the dragon, that I did save your life, and why."   
"No you haven't" Winter exclaimed, "You haven't told me why you think I'm lucky!"   
"But I did tell you the reason. Because I think you're lucky," Cinder smiled wryly, "It's a secret. Possibly the most dangerous secret I know. Not to Remnant though. In fact, it's dangerous to maybe one person-you. Because once you know something, you can't unknow it."

__

Winter stepped back, and Cinder knew it was her words, not her appearance. She was trying to imagine what Cinder could be talking about, but she couldn't, and she probably wouldn't.

"And what negotiation would it require to loose that secret from your lips, Cinder Fall?"

__

Her voice was calm, cool, and quiet. Cinder considered her words for a moment and stood up to cross the span of her cell to the invisible forcefield she knew was between them. She used her Grimm arm to test the distant, and once it sizzled for a moment, she met Winter's gaze. 

__

She kept her voice quiet, in case anyone was listening.   
"The premium for that secret, Specialist Winter Schnee, is a high one. And it would be my circumstances exactly. I'm equally certain you may meet resistance."

"I'm second in command of the Atlesian  Military," Winter spoke just as quietly, "And I have a need to understand. What is it you want? Your freedom? Less severe containment?"

"Not in the least," Cinder chuckled, "Emerald and Mercury go free. And I'm well aware the general public won't like the prospect of you releasing them, especially given Mercury's part in our deceptions that slandered Yang Xiao Long." If they didn't know about Emerald's part, she wasn't going to share it.

"Yes, we learned of Emerald's illusion abilities as well," Winter nodded, "You don't sound finished."   
"I'm not demanding this just for my secret. There will a public outcry. So you could use something to sate that anger," Cinder exhaled, "Something they can focus on instead."   
"And what's that?" Winter inquired, leaning just a touch closer.

__

Cinder smiled, and it was small. Her voice soft, almost inaudible were it not for the silence.

"My public execution."


	17. Act Four, Scene Two

_ After The War _

_ Atlas Military Headquarters _

_ General Ironwood's Office _

* * *

 

"It really happened."

__

Ironwood looked up when the door lock chimed, and he was surprised how pale Winter was as she entered. She was the only other person with a scroll that could open his office.   
"Winter?" He stood up quickly to guide her towards one of the chairs across his desk, "What happened?" Had she ever looked so shaken? He'd been there for what he imagined were some of her worst moments. She had come to him to confide others-like her sister's tenth birthday, and her father's admission in front of everyone. But as upset as she'd been then, Ironwood had never seen her so distressed.

__

"Cinder. She rescued me," Winter whispered as she sat down, and he realized she'd been shaking, "She saved my life from the dragon. She dragged me out of the wreck for safety. And she waited until she saw rescue approaching to leave my side."

"What?"

__

Ironwood hesitated, uncertain on what to say.

"Are you certain she wasn't just confirming what you'd previously told her about the incident?"   
"I never told her much," Winter replied simply, "I asked her about it at the beginning. I called it incident with the dragon. But I didn't tell her any specifics. And she knew something I never told anyone about it."

"What was that?" Ironwood slowly sat beside her, opting not to circle his desk to his own seat.

__

He had never admitted his affections to his second, but the truth was they had a certain camaraderie between them. When things required they be professional, they were professional. But they'd become aware of when it wasn't as necessary for the day to day, and they could become a little more casual in their mannerisms around one another. Usually this was in private, in their offices, or the rare occasion they were together, alone, on mission.

__

It may have been unwise; Ironwood had no doubt it had only made his affection for the young woman grow.

__

"The reason she gave me for why she did it," Winter spoke quietly, "It hadn't made any sense then. It still doesn't. She won't tell me what it is unless I meet her final set of terms. She called it a dangerous, powerful secret, and that it knowledge that would change everything."

__

Ironwood nodded, though he had also begun to process everything Winter had said. Cinder claimed she had pulled Winter away from the wreck and watched over her. He had found Winter a distance from the crash site, surprisingly unharmed by the natives of the realm.

__

"She told you the reason but she didn't?" Ironwood repeated, "And-she has another negotiation?"   
"The reason for the reason she did it," Winter laughed weakly, "She knows I'm confused. She knows I need to know. And before she confirmed that she had done it, I probably wouldn't have hesitated to arrange what she wants. But now-now I just don't know."

"Winter?" Ironwood leaned forward to lift her chin, "What does she want?"

__

Winter's grey blue eyes were stormy, and he knew all too well the expression of fighting a flood of tears.

"She wants to die, General. She wants Strusai and Black to go free, and to appease the people instead, she wants a public execution."

__

The statement shouldn't have hit Ironwood as hard as it did. It honestly made a lot of sense in context of some of her strange behaviors and statements. The note of finality in her conversations with herself, for instance, and her desire that Emerald and Mercury blame everyone on her. Yes, he knew what she'd said-their initial public defenders spoke it before Winter hired three of her late father's lawyers. He was actually still waiting for their reports, but he now suspected that Cinder's attorney would be confused as he handed it in. Or else he was trying to work on an insanity plea, because his client was asking for death, and didn't that mean she had to be insane?

__

He had absolutely no reason to feel like he'd been punched. He'd been actively avoiding Cinder's cell, and the woman herself. The only reason he'd even monitored any of her surveillance (and he'd noticed she was talking to herself quite a bit) was because they were desperate for information about Salem's missing associates.

__

She had seduced him to get access to his security clearance. She had drawn him into...something. She had manipulated him, and blinded him to the obvious danger that  _ she _ presented. She had claimed the identity of a ghost of his past to earn his sympathy.

__

_ But she didn't need to do any of that after the first night, did she? _

__

That thought had been haunting him. That single thought had left him baffled about her betrayal. The first night they'd been together, he'd fallen asleep first in that stupid hotel. She probably got to his scroll then and planted whatever she needed to, to pair with her virus planted at the CCT tower that same evening.

__

But when he'd woken up the next morning, she was still there. After the breach, orchestrated by her of course, she tricked him into an alley for their second time. To be fair; that might not have been a trick, he may have just not understood that she was making advances on him until she made it abundantly obvious.

__

What function had that served?

What function was served by their encounter in the locker rooms when he met her after her team's first match in the tournament?

By their second visit to that hotel?

To that particular scenario she offered there?

What function did telling him about Ai Zhang serve, the eve her plan was about to go into effect, and he didn't have the faintest idea it was coming?

What function did her vulnerability in the dorm serve that final time they met?

__

Those confusing questions he'd tried so hard to suppress since the fall of Beacon all raced through his mind at the revelation Winter had provided.   
Cinder Fall wanted to die.   
She wanted to be executed, publicly, so they could distract the general public while her teammates went free.

__

"I don't know how to do this," Winter whispered, "I want to know why I'm lucky. I want to understand. But how do I arrange the death of someone I owe my life to?"

__

It was her unusual phrasing that brought Ironwood back to the present. Her turned his head, confused by it.

"You don't believe in luck, Winter," He spoke quietly, "What's that got to do with it?"

"It's what she said when she pulled me out of the wreck," Winter laughed weakly, "And what she said today.  'Because, Winter. You don't know it, but you're a lucky woman.'"

__

_ "She's a lucky woman, General, to be loved by someone as true as you." _

__

A secret that once known could change everything.

It...couldn't be, could it?

__

"...I'll see what I can arrange for you," Ironwood spoke softly, "Winter? I want you to take the day. Possibly tomorrow. You haven't taken a break since Cinder woken up. I know you are sleeping full nights. You've had laser focus on finding out if it she really had saved you. You've proven that. The next step can wait."   
"But General-" She lifted her head and began to protested, but he shook his head.   
"Rest. Two days. If it helps, go be with your family. I'm sure Weiss would be pleased to see you. If not, just go your quarters, or hide away at a hotel. But you're fried, Winter. This is a very big revelation, and her request is just as much of one. You need a clear head to process it and decide what you want to do, if, and how."

__

Winter looked up at him, but he could see reason winning out in her stormy gaze. She nodded slowly.   
"Yes, General Ironwood."

"I'll fill out the paperwork for a short leave. How long do you want?"   
"I-twenty four hours," Winter exhaled, "That gives me time to wash, sleep, eat, and process. I don't want to be away long."   
"Always the overachiever," He half teased and nodded, "A day's leave. I'll make it so."

__

She smiled wryly at him and stood up to dust herself off.   
"Thank you, for all the help with this," Winter added faintly, "I know everything about...my rescue is technically a waste of resources."

"I don't consider it that way," He offered his own wry smile, "It's to help my second's mental health, so she understands exactly what happened to her in a particularly traumatic and near death experience."

__

Winter nodded, and he thought he saw something of a more real smile as she walked out of his office. Ironwood exhaled and reached into his desk to find the paperwork he had mentioned. She did need the rest, but that wasn't why he needed her to go.

__

He needed to find out the results of the lab tests he'd requested.

__

As if to taunt him, when he reached for the forms, the file about Ai Zhang shifted. Ironwood hesitated, but he took a breath, and picked up the manilla envelope.

__

If he hadn't been using his cybernetic right arm, he wondered if his hand would have shaken when he unwound the tie. He'd only been in there once, very carefully ignoring everything else for her biological records-DNA, dental, and fingerprints. But right then, he was looking for something that would likely be paper clipped to the front of the report.

__

When he drew the stack of papers out, a photo looked back at him. It was a young woman, sixteen, seventeen at oldest. She had short black hair, and her face and neck had assorted bruises of varying colors.  _ Of course. Qrow said the police had let her off because it was likely self defense; an abusive husband. _

__

But the eyes were what he found himself looking at. They were almost vacant, staring at the camera, but they were amber golden.


	18. Act Four, Scene Three

_ After The War _

_ Atlas Military Labs _

_ Biomedical Division _

* * *

 

There weren't a lot of people in the lab when Ironwood arrived. That was just as well; he'd submitted all of Cinder's DNA and fingerprints as a Jane Doe, and he had the file number. There was on startled tech who began to make a fuss, but he shook his head.

"Alexandrite, right? No need for formality. I had a personal curiosity I wanted to check. An old cold case I was involved in, a missing person," He explained simply. The girl paused to consider, and she nodded.   
"-Yeah, that sounds familiar. I think April just finished it." She smiled gently, "-it's a weird feeling isn't it, sir? The war being over?"   
"Yes it is," but he didn't say what he felt. That it didn't feel like the end of the war. It honestly hadn't felt like it since they'd attempted to recover Salem's body. Instead it just felt like the calm before the storm.

__

She left him alone after that, fussing over some other project. He saw a variety of papers in front of her, all appearing to be complicated lab results. He even saw a few biological samples, and wondered for half a moment what she was working on. But that could wait for his investigation. Right now, he had to focus before his thoughts distracted him forever. There was a rabbit hole, and he was struggling not to fall down it.

__

Whoever April was, she had organized the the results very well. Everything had very neat and careful notations, She'd even highlighted and circled to make the results all the more clear. She'd done a full work up on Jane Doe, remarking that the DNA was almost identical to Ai Zhang's, except for a few foreign antibodies and cells she couldn't identify.

__

That made enough sense, given the biological changes Cinder had clearly been through.

__

April had also been kind enough to make notations that she didn't find fingerprints a dependable source on their own, but combined with the DNA and almost identical dental records, she found it very likely Jane Doe was Ai Zhang. She noted the few changes in dental positions were probably the simple result of time and aging.

__

Ironwood shut the folder without reading more and he took a deep breath before he checked the door. Alexandrite was still working on whatever she was doing, so he couldn't do what he wanted to-scream. Shout. Hit something. Maybe shoot something. Hell, he half wanted to drink, but Branwen had ruined that in their last encounter.

__

_ Maybe that's how Qrow found out _ . He vaguely remembered waking up in a tent with Winter after the fall of Beacon. He even remembered the crash of his own ship, the explosion, and all the confusion. He remembered Qrow saving his life when he was afraid, for a moment, he was attacking him. They'd evacuated the population, and just before dawn, he had entered a deserted club. He was alone, he'd sat at the bar, and he'd pulled out his scroll to listen to the broadcast from before the CCT fell.

__

There wasn't a question.

He'd known the voice.

It was Cinder's. Truthfully, he'd known it from the moment she took over the signal in the arena after Pyrrha and Penny's match.

__

But he'd let the broadcast play while he rummaged under the bar, found a bottle of expensive looking whiskey, and drank.

__

Yeah, it would make sense if Branwen had found him there. And in the state he probably had been in (how many bottles had he had? Two? Three? Two and a half?), he might have let something about the affair with Cinder slip.

__

At which point he owed Qrow for his discretion even more than he'd previously considered.

__

"General Ironwood?"

__

His daze was interrupted by Alexandrite's small voice. He looked up and set the folder back down where April had left it.   
"Yes?" He inquired as he stepped over.   
"I-just finished the prisoner's second work up. There was something missed the first time, and I double checked the records and results the doctor sent me. But-I'm pretty sure I got it right."

__

She held out the paper, and Ironwood took it. He could see a variety of conditions listed; things that would be told by blood or chemical markers.

__

And then he saw the one she was talking about, and for the second time in the day, he felt like he'd been punched.


	19. Act Four, Scene Four

_ After the War _ __   
_ Cinder's Cell _ _   
_ __ Classified Location

_ Atlas _

* * *

 

Cinder was barely awake when she heard the door to her cell open. It felt like night time, and it felt late. She'd been having trouble sleeping in the last few days. She groaned quietly and rolled away from the door to face the wall beside her bed.

__

"Specialist Schnee, I'm not sure I believe you got everything in order. And if you did, talk to me before my execution, then I'll tell you."

"I had Winter take a day. Her meetings with you have been sitting a certain strain on her."

__

Cinder's eyes both shot open when she heard the voice. Male. Deep. Familiar. Hauntingly familiar.

  
Pyrrha's gasp didn't help, nor did Amber's cackling.

__

She sat up though, and turned to look at who she knew would be standing there. She hadn't expected how close he'd be, but if anyone had the authority to adjust where the safety forcefield was, it was General Ironwood.

__

"I didn't think you'd come." She spoke, barely believing it was her voice that said it. She couldn't meet his eyes.   
"Neither did I." He stood in that familiar parade rest, and she almost felt bad for all the times Winter's had reminded her of him. Hers was elegant, yes, but it was a world of differences from his.

__

"Why are you here then?" Cinder sighed, "I told Winter I don't know anything about any contingency plans."   
"I'm aware. Specialist Schnee told me about your conversations. All of them. A particular term stood out when she came to my office this afternoon. About her being a lucky woman."

__

Cinder blinked, and then raised a brow.    
"If you're worried-I don't think she's going to be able to meet my terms. Getting me executed will be easy, but getting full and proper freedom for Mercury and Emerald-"

"Did you save Winter because you knew I love her, Ai?"

__

The name washed over her like Raven's ice had what felt so long ago. It felt like she'd been coated in cold water, and that she wasn't drying off.  _ Ai _ .

__

"I'm surprised you'd say that here," She whispered, "You never said it outloud. Not as such."   
"I turned off the surveillance to your cell before I came in. I wanted some degree of privacy."

__

He continued to betray nothing; she couldn't read his face. Before she'd been able to break his focus, but then, before she wasn't being interrogated.

__

"Yes."

"What?"

"Yes, that is exactly why I saved Winter Schnee," Cinder cracked a faint smile, "It was very romantic of you to come for her yourself, and how tenderly you carried her."

__

_ And here I thought I couldn't make him blush anymore _ . The red hin his cheeks caused her smile to become less faint, and he coughed into his hand.   
"How did you confirm? Were you listening, that night, in the hotel?"

"I wasn't," Cinder bit her lip, "I-I almost did. But then-"   
"Then what?"   
"Then I felt your tears, and I couldn't."

__

The looks crossing his face was the loss of all composure. Confusion. Hurt. Anger.

"Are you saying you did it because you didn't want to betray me?" The venom in his words took her aback, "A strange thing, given you proceeded to anyway!"

"I deserve that," Cinder didn't argue it, though she may have flinched when he shouted. She knew he was just shouting, she knew that.

__

But her scattered dreams of late had been plagued with memories she'd spent much of the last decade trying to forget.

__

"So what are you saying, Ai?" Ironwood calmed, but she could practically feel the rage beneath the surface, "Because right now none of this makes sense."

"Almost none of the time I spent with you made sense, General," Cinder exhaled and stood up to approach the forcefield, "...at the end, one of my buds did come loose. I didn't hear the name clearly. I could tell it was two syllables and sounded a bit like mine. But I didn't have any context to apply to that information until Winter led that air raid."

"And you did then?" He's brows furrowed and his blue eyes were fixed on her. Now that she finally met them, she could see it wasn't all anger. There was a great deal of pain, and no small amount of confusion. But there was-something else? She couldn't identify it.

__

"-When I heard Watts making a fuss, I knew it was an Atlas Air Raid. So I went out to see," Cinder began quietly.   
"Why?"

"Because-Because I wondered if you were going to be there. You weren't. But one of the ships had already crashed, what with the dragon. And the radio was still working," Cinder began to rush through it, not wanting him to ask more difficult questions then she could answer, "I heard you calling her name. I heard the terror. I put my pieces together. Absolutely any doubt I might have had disappeared when I saw the look of relief when you realized she was alive. You're both idiots, by the way."

__

"I don't recall asking your opinion, Ai," But she could see him fidget, uncomfortable, nervous, "That explains how you knew. But you saved her. With that knowledge you saved her. You didn't kidnap her. You didn't torture her and record it. You faced off with a  _ dragon _ , ripped open a flaming wreck, and dragged her to safety. Where apparently you waited to protect her like a guardian angel until you knew she'd be safe."

"And then I made sure you two took off without being harassed, yeah. Now you know."   
"Why?" He repeated, "Why would that be your answer to that knowledge?"

__

"Oh here we go," Amber scoffed, "This is going to be interesting."   
"Just...say it," Pyrrha whispered softly, "Whatever it is. Tell the truth. What have you got to lose anymore?"

__

"You won't believe me," Cinder spoke softly, "Not after everything."   
"I might not have. Until I found out beyond a shadow of a doubt you  _ are _ Ai Zhang of Mistral," Ironwood exhaled, "And that everything you told me that night about your past was true."   
"Incomplete," Cinder murmured quietly, "But true. Would you believe I'd forgotten my name until just before you'd found me?"   
"It strikes me that you've been trying very hard to forget who you are, Ai."   
"Please stop saying that," Cinder spoke quietly again, "Just-stop."   
"Saying what?"   
"Her name."   
"Your name."   
"No!" Cinder snapped as she tossed her arms out, hands curling into fists, "Ai is-Ai Zhang was a little girl who believed if she was just noble, good, kind, and brave then good things would happen to her! But that only works if you're in positive environment. She was stupid. She was stupid, and naive, and she's dead! She  _ died in the cave with her stepmother and sister!" _

__

His brow raised again and Cinder stepped back. She dropped her arms and looked up at him with a nod.   
"Yeah. I'm sure by now you know I'm self widowed. He uh-came to the hospital. I got so angry-and my semblance woke up," She shook her head, "I'm not sorry. And I think I would have done it on purpose if I'd known how. Because after I knew how, I went to the home of my other abusers, and I killed them. And I liked it."

"You were hurting," He replied quietly, "You'd suffered a miscarriage."   
"Yes, that so explains every person I've killed since! Like Amber, Pyrrha, and Vernal!" She counted off, "Saving the girl you'll never tell you love, that doesn't undo anything I've done! It definitely doesn't undo what I did to you!"   
"You shifted perspective."

__

Cinder blinked, tilted her head, and stared at him as he shifted. He almost looked...smug.   
"What?"

"You started by saying Ai Zhang was a little girl who died in a cave with her stepmother and sister. And then you started saying I. You said you were self widowed. You got angry. Your semblance. You're not sorry. You would have done it. You went to the home of your step mother and sister, and you killed them. You are Ai Zhang."

__

Oh, now she was angry. Her fingers curled into fists again, and her eyes narrowed, both golden and red.   
"I'll never understand why I care about you."

__

She didn't know she'd said it until she saw his expression. Ironwood was back to confusion as he took another step forward.   
"Excuse me?"   
"I said you wouldn't believe me," Cinder laughed and gestured at him, "The first time. The first time was planned. Schemed. I mean. The tango wasn't. The method wasn't. Literally the entire plan was seduce him and bug his scroll. You just. Proved to be considerably more morally driven and honorable than other men I worked my wiles on. So I improvised. And yeah, I kind of like ballroom dancing, so you provided a rare opportunity, mister Jimmy Foxtrot!"

"I see." He didn't say anything else, but she continued.

__

"And then you were-" Cinder lifted her arms, flinching when she gestured at him, and put her left arm down much faster, "-you. You gave a crap. It wasn't about getting off for you. It was like it was another step of the dance. You cared that I was okay, that I had a good time. So I decided it would be more fun not to swallow. So I had to shower before I left. And when I stopped to plant the worm on your scroll, you-you cried out. I thought I was made. But I wasn't. You were having  a bad dream. A  _ really _ bad one. I couldn't just leave. I should have. I don't know why I didn't. I don't know why I felt like I owed you. I don't know why I cared. But I did. And then I left the next morning, but we crossed paths again. And I was running on adrenaline from the battle, I was frustrated because Roman fucked up my perfectly orchestrated plan, and there you were. All, tall, handsome, and I already knew you were an extremely talented lover. And then you came to me at the arena, and I should have slowed it down, and instead I made it worse. I planned another engagement with you. Then you came to check on me because you thought my teammate had been hurt-and it was probably the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me. I connected to you. Somehow. I don't know why or how it happened. But I did. You became the third person on this god forsaken planet I gave a shit about the well being of. So yeah, when I realized the woman you love was about to get eaten by a dragon, I acted. I couldn't accept that possibility. Hell, I went out to see the raid because if you were there, if you had been the one who crashed, if you got badly hurt-I didn't want you to be alone when the end came. Even if you hated me, I figured that was better than being alone."

__

"-You were right, Ai Zhang," His smile was sad and bittersweet when she finally stopped, "Because it sounds like something happened in my favor because I was kind to the beautiful woman standing before me."

__

Cinder stared at him, and the tension left her face. She didn't know what had broken her. Her name. His suggestion. His declaration that she was beautiful in the present tense. Or that he was right? It was his kindness and consideration. She hadn't been prepared for that. She had no defense against that. Cinder Fall was a shield of broken glass to protect herself from everything awful in the world.

__

Good things? They fucked her up.

__

She'd looked down, staring at her hands, and spoke softly.   
"-The metal never bothered me," Cinder spoke quietly, her voice threatening to crack, "In fact, it intrigued me. It meant you were strong. A survivor. It made you more amazing to me."

"I could tell," His voice was closer, and she lifted her face to see him reaching out to her cheek with a handkerchief, "You never shied away from it. Never favored my organic side."

__

Ironwood was touching her, dabbing tears off her face.

There was no forcefield now.

He'd either turned it off or stepped beyond it.

Cinder could have attacked him. Powers or not, she had a Grimm Arm. It had claws. She wasn't without danger.

He would be an amazing hostage. She could do that. That would definitely get Emerald and Mercury free-maybe even her.

Or, if the forcefield was down, she could run for the door.

__

But she didn't. Instead Cinder collapsed against him, and she began to scream. She began to scream because everything was out and she couldn't handle it. She could handle being broken. Being angry. But this? Being cared and treated kindly by another human being?

__

That was why Emerald and Mercury meant so much to her, wasn't it?

Because both had had times where they'd treated her well.   
She'd treated them like shit.

That was what turned her scream into a shaking sob.

__

Ironwood was surprisingly good about it. She wouldn't have blamed him if he'd shovered her away. She was someone who had hurt him. Someone who had betrayed him. She was his enemy. She was a monster, her shriveled black arm a testament to that fact. Her left hand was curled around his shirt now, just like her still human right. By all logic and reason, he should have pushed her away and walked out. He had all his answers. Why was he still there?

__

Instead, he gently embraced her, and rubbed her back softly.   
"I should have looked for you as soon as I heard your father died. Maybe I could have spared you Salem."

__

Oh no.   
No no no he could not remember that.

He could not remember that dance when she was a child. That small random act of kindness from a stranger.

__

"I wasn't your responsibility," Cinder croaked weakly, "I was just a little girl you'd entertained at a party once. It shouldn't have mattered to you. I shouldn't matter to you."

"I was learning to be a huntsman. I was supposed to protect people. And I was an admirer of your father. I didn't even go to the funeral."

"It wouldn't have matter," She answered, "They never did anything to me in public. It wasn't your job to save me. How I came out is not your fault, and you do not get to take responsibility for the fact that I became a villain."

"I could have tried to keep contact-"   
"You had no reason to think I was in any sort of trouble," She stepped back to hold his eyes, "I chose this path. I  became Cinder Fall. I chose to serve Salem. Those were my decisions, James."

__

Ironwood paused and crooked a faint smile as he glanced down at her.

"That's the first time you've said my name you know. I mean. Other then-"   
"Other then the time I was Winter for you?" She concluded, laughing weakly through her tears when his cheeks turned red, "-if it hadn't been me, she'd have found someone else. Maybe she would have found her. No one can change what was. No one  _ should _ change what was. There is the present, and that is constantly passing, and the future. Which for fuck's sake, please do something about it. Stop being so damn proper. She's just as mad about you as you are about her."   
"You don't know that, that definitely wasn't a conversation topic," Ironwood snorted quietly.

"It wasn't. But she had her tells, when paired with the rest of the puzzle pieces," Cinder sighed, "You two are heroes. You're the General. She's the lady. You two deserve the happy ending."

"I can't do that to her, even if you're right. It would mean-" He sighed, "It's against regulations."   
"You're first and second in charge of the entire military! Fuck regulations. Better yet, fuck each other. She needs it."

"Did you always swear this much?"   
"Only when I have emotional breakthroughs, breakdowns, and crack up."

__

Both of them chuckled, and there was something strange in the air. Familiar. Like...he wasn't entirely anger. His eyes mimicked that. He was concerned. He was worried, perhaps. But there was the reality. He had cared about her wellbeing. That was why she cared about him.

__

"I'm sorry." Cinder finally spoke again as she looked up at him.   
"For which part?"

"This one."

__

It was a terrible idea, really. But then, she was prone to stupid ideas around General Ironwood. That was the entire problem.

__

So she reached for his cheek and kissed him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writer's Note: This particular work of fiction was the unexpected sequel to "Little Lies", which was originally intended to be a one shot piece about Cinder Fall seducing General James Ironwood to get access to his scroll. If any of you found "No Happy Endings" after reading "Little Lies", you're aware it came out as thirteen chapters eventually ending in inevitable tragedy. Additionally you're aware that piece generally followed the pattern 'one chapter of story telling, one chapter of particularly feelsy nsfw sexy times'. I've been working to incorporate exposition and flashbacks back to it, in case anyone comes upon this fiction and didn't read "Little Lies" because it was highly sexual in nature.
> 
> At this point "No Happy Endings" hasn't had anything particularly NSFW in nature. It's had allusions to mature and sensitive topics, but nothing sexual or NSFW.
> 
> This note is at the end of the chapter because if I put it at the beginning, you might guess the conclusion.
> 
> The next chapter is going to be sexual in nature. Feelsy, because apparently I can't write porn without plot (see: this is the multi part sequel to a 13 part fiction that was supposed to be a one shot lemon).
> 
> There's also going to be a major plot reveal at the end.
> 
> A plot reveal I will quote and revisit at the very beginning of the following chapter, in case you wish to skip the dirty bits and get back to the plot.
> 
> Otherwise, the next episode I don't expect will have anything particularly important to the narrative if you're squeamish about the sexy stuff.
> 
> If you're not squeamish-read it anyway.  
> Because it's a natural part of the narrative, and you might have noticed the two characters involved have had quite a bit to process, and it's going to be party of how they do so.  
> And because you'll get to the plot reveal slightly sooner.


	20. Act Four, Scene Five

_After the War_

_Cinder's Cell_   
_Classified Location_   
_Atlas_

* * *

 

Cinder didn't know what would happen when she kissed James Ironwood in her cell. All she knew was at that moment she desperately craved the connection they'd once had. No, no, this wasn't love. She still knew that. It had never been love, and it would never be love. Or at the very least, it wasn't a romantic love. Maybe it was a kind of love, but her heart was made of broken glass, and she couldn't understand such things like others could. Like people who, when the world broke them open, didn't decide the answer was to break open the world.

People like General James Ironwood, she supposed, who loved a woman so much he couldn't tell her, because it might compromise her opportunities. People who had probably lost so much of themselves in the line of duty, but patched themselves back up and went right back to saving the world.

He did seem surprised when she kissed him. His body language said it, because he caught her shoulders, surprised. But he didn't push her away. She'd half expected him to.

But in her mind, it was days, at most, before she faced the final scales. She rather hoped there was nothing after death-she didn't think she'd get to go to the good place. Rebirth-rebirth could be okay. A second chance, to do life right. Yeah. Cinder liked the idea of that.

But if she only had a couple more days as Cinder Fall in this life, she wanted to reconnect to the three people in this world she cared about. James was one of them. Maybe she could talk to Emerald, maybe she could ask for that. Mercury would be harder-she didn't know if he'd be willing to talk to her. But she could try. Just like she was trying to reconnect to James. Not General Ironwood. He was James.

Or Jimmy. No, Jimmy was a long time ago, just like Ai.

It wasn't Ai kissing Jimmy. No, Ai and Jimmy were so much simpler. Jimmy was a charming student at Atlas Academy, and Ai was a little girl who adored her father and didn't have any worries in the world. They were innocent and naive, oblivious of what was waiting in their futures. It was simply a sweet little gesture.

This...was so much more complicated.

This was Cinder initiating and kissing James. It was Cinder who almost wrapped her arms around his neck, then hesitated because of her arm. But before she could so much as pull away, it was James wrapping his arms around her waist and drawing her close.

 

* * *

 

This was a terrible decision. Probably Ironwood's worst decision since listening to his inner Branwen, going back to his office, and drinking the contents of his flask. That wasn't a lot; it was just all it took for him to turn his computer back on and see Cinder muttering in uneasy sleep. He couldn't blame this on the alcohol. But the stupid decision to turn off the feed and come down to talk to her? Yeah, okay, that was influenced by lowered inhibitions.

He had reasoned on the way down that just because in their previous encounters it had proven impossible not to wind up touching her, did not mean it would this time. He was actually struggling to remember a single instance that didn't end in with them in the throes of lust.

But so much had happened since then. He knew who she really was. She was not an innocent girl or a damsel in distress in need of rescue. She _was_ distress. She put people in distress. People were dead because of her, directly and indirectly-including several people he had personally known. He would face her, he would question her, and he wouldn't be tempted by her as he once had been.

He hadn't been prepared for her outbursts and confessions. He hadn't been in anyway braced for the raw emotions exposed. There was no way he'd expected her to break down and fall against him sobbing.

What they were doing now? All right, he supposed her should have seen this coming.

 

* * *

 

When had they gotten back to that stupid little bed in the corner of the cell? She didn't know. She didn't care. He hadn't pushed her away. He was kissing her back, and her hands were moving to his uniform. She didn't know why he was allowing this. She couldn't imagine how he could even look at her. But then, she didn't know why he'd bothered to dab her tears away.

Abruptly she stopped moving, trying to understand and too confused. He withdrew and gazed down at her, those piercing blue eyes fixed on her.  
"What's wrong? Do-should I stop? I can-"  
"Why?" Cinder whispered softly, "I know why...I want to. But you should hate me. By all logic and reason, you should hate me. This isn't something you do with people you hate. I mean sometimes you can, but that is not what this feels like."

Ironwood paused as he listened, and then he drew his hand to her cheek. Her left cheek. Cinder winced and tried to pull away.  
"Does that hurt?" He spoke quietly, calmly.  
"No," Cinder answered quietly, "I just-"  
"That's why," He whispered quietly, "You-don't know this. But it is extremely difficult for me to let down my barriers, particularly physically. And that is because of what lies beneath. I know why you keep hesitating and pulling back your left arm. It's an experience I'm uniquely able to understand."  
"That's not a full explanation."

  
He exhaled and rolled onto his side, but he left his right arm draped gently around her.  
"...This is a terrible decision. For the reason I need to. Because if-if I'm able to tell her, if I'm able to build a future-the only reason I'll be able to trust more than the occasional tryst is because of you. I still don't know how much of what we did was deception on your part. But you never-never looked at me in disgust, or fear."  
"-so you're going to-with me, because you might have a chance with the woman you actually want to make love to?" Cinder stifled a snort and smirked.  
"-Partially," Ironwood winced, "Partially you need to know that your-what's the term anyway?"  
"Grimmifcation is the running slang," Cinder snorted softly, "What about your?"  
"Your Grimmifcation doesn't define you anymore than my cybernetics define me."

Before she could counter one of the many thoughts passing her mind-that he was insane, and an idiot, among others-he was kissing her, and his hand was on her left cheek.

It seemed strange, she considered as he leaned back to undo his uniform, and she slowly reached down to remove the scrubs top that had been granted her. Their bodies were aligned in such a way that her clawed left arm was looped around his metallic right side, and she realized that was a good thing.

She had been naked in front of him before. But the grimmifcation was the first time it made her feel vulnerable.

In contrast to her right side side, still fair unblemished skin for the most part, the left side was not. From head to toe, almost a perfect half of her body was shriveled black skin. The line wasn't perfect, but her entire left leg had changed, and then it crept up to her navel. From there it climbed up like a crooked scar up towards her breasts, the left almost unrecognizable without context. The first time she'd seen that she'd spent several solid hours trying to figure out what had happen to her nipple, but she eventually concluded that Grimm didn't nurse their young, if they had them.

From there it crept up her neck, and half of her lips had become a dark purple in contrast to the faint pink on the other. And the shriveled black skin disappeared beneath her black bangs.

Oh, and then there were the veins and arteries that were so much more visible, and not remotely human colored. Faintly pulsing, glowing, purple lines appeared here and there. One was on her side under her arm, falling just short of the breast. Another climbed from around her thigh up towards her navels. Those were the most notable, but she knew she had at least half a dozen others of varying sizes, thickness, and length.

Ironwood drew his left hand to touch her lips softly, starting on the purple side.  
"I've seen worse in the mirror."  
"Liar."  
"Look who's talking."

Then they were kissing again, and he moved to touch her side. To run his fingers across every purple line. To clasp softly at the breast that had once baffled her so. The action drew a soft moan, and she could feel his lips curving into a faint grin.

He lifted a knee to push her legs apart, and she released a deep sigh at the sensation of cool metal against her skin. His hands were climbing up along her sides, and she was bringing hers down his.

It was strange how they could simultaneously take their time and rush towards their goal. Or that's what she thought was happening until he shifted once more, his organic left hand sliding across her inner thighs as he drew his lips away from hers. Instead he kissed down her chin and along her jaw, not hesitating to brush his lips across her darkened flesh.

She didn't know if it was that or his slipping a deft finger inside her that drew her gasp. But she did know it was his hands and lips that caused the soft moans to build.

Metal fingers danced around and across her breasts, cupping, caressing, and clasping. His other hand was working her over between her legs, thumb circling her clit as another finger curled inside her.

She didn't find words when she came, but it was hardly silent. Her human fingers curled into his organic shoulder, while her claws scraped against the cybernetic.

Once she eased back down, he slid his hand back, and turned to bring his lips against her shriveled almost skeletal left arm. The motion surprised her, but not as much as when he drew her arm down from his shoulder to slip cybernetic digits between elongated Grimmifed fingers.

She was tearing up again, but smiling up at him as he leaned forward to kiss her tears away. He brought their joined inhuman hands over her head, and she drew her flesh one to touch him. His grunt answered as she discovered her needed little help getting ready, already at full attention.

She laughed and gazed back up to find his blue eyes waiting. That drew the sound from her mismatched lips, but she smiled softly and nodded.

He nodded in response, and in a single strong thrust, he plunged inside her.

She didn't remember letting go of his hand. But as he began to withdraw, thrust, and repeat she was rocking her hips to meet his. Her arms wrapped back around his shoulders as she moaned, her body pulling him back as he spread her folds within. His groans echoed, and he began a deeper, harder plunge. Soon her legs were crossed around his hips, both blackened and flesh, and his hands were curled into her sides.

Grimm on metal. Metal on Grimm.

Flesh inside flesh.

He didn't last long after she went over, her pulsing passage closing up around his twitching member as climax took her. He groaned, and gasped her name, her birth name, her true name, as he spilled inside her. She relished the sensation because it felt to her like the epitome of humanity.

 

* * *

 

After, they were slow to move, but eventually Cinder unwrapped herself from him and helped Ironwood assemble his affects. It was then she saw that thing in his eyes again, that aspect she couldn't identify.

As he stood up and they shared a final kiss, unspoken but known by both to be their last, he smiled, and it was bittersweet.  
"I'll do everything I can to get your teammates light reprimands. But your idea can't be done in your condition."

"What?" Cinder returned to the bed to pull her scrubs back on, "The Grimmification? I assure you, it doesn't make me indestructible. Hell, my aura won't even shield that half of my body."

Ironwood answered with a dry chuckle from the doorway, where he seemed to be typing in a code on a keypad.  
"Whoever he was, or is, he's a lucky man."

Cinder gave him a baffled look as he restored the force field.  
"Who?"  
"The father."


	21. Act Five, Scene One

Af _ter the War_

_Cinder's Cell_ _  
_ _Classified Location_

_Atlas_

 

* * *

 

  
  


_ After, they were slow to move, but eventually Cinder unwrapped herself from him and helped Ironwood assemble his affects. It was then she saw that thing in his eyes again, that aspect she couldn't identify. _

 

_ As he stood up and they shared a final kiss, unspoken but known by both to be their last, he smiled, and it was bittersweet. _

_ "I'll do everything I can to get your teammates light reprimands. But your idea can't be done in your condition." _

 

_ "What?" Cinder returned to the bed to pull her scrubs back on, "The Grimmification? I assure you, it doesn't make me indestructible. Hell, my aura won't even shield that half of my body." _

 

_ Ironwood answered with a dry chuckle from the doorway, where he seemed to be typing in a code on a keypad. _

_ "Whoever he was, or is, he's a lucky man." _

 

_ Cinder gave him a baffled look as he restored the force field. _

_ "Who?" _

_ "The father." _

 

* * *

 

 

A condition they couldn't execute her because of.

The father.

 

The world began to spin around Cinder as Ironwood left her cell with those parting words.

"That's impossible." She finally managed to speak as she sat at the edge of her bed.

 

It had been a warning she'd ignored at the beginning-that becoming the host of the Grimm Scarab might have a variety of unfortunate biological impacts on her. One item on the list was the potential havoc it could work on her reproductive tract. During an exam by Watts after the Fall of Beacon tower, it had been verified. She was infertile, and further scans had revealed the relevant internal organs were unrecognizable within her.

 

She'd spent the night outside the castle, throwing fireballs at feral Grimm, and hoping no one heard her scream. Of course, she'd found out after the Scarab had restored her voice.

 

"Maybe they lied, but..." Pyrrha appeared on the bed beside her, ever the compassionate ghost. Cinder laughed weakly and nodded.   
"But even if they did, mathematically, it's still completely impossible."

 

Had this been the first time she'd had sex since Beacon tower? Maybe not, but it was definitely the first time in over a year. She wasn't exactly  _ around anyone _ she would consider partaking with, and seducing strangers was significantly more difficult when her skin started to shrivel and become black. Most people didn't like the idea of a terrifying set of claws digging into their flesh.

 

And on the rare occasion since that she felt desire, she'd discovered that the random encounters just left her feeling more wanting then she began. For the most part, Cinder didn't think about it. It only reminded her of what was lost, of another skill and option taken from her. Reproduction, and her sexuality, which she had wielded as a weapon for so long.

 

She vaguely remembered Salem insisting she have seduction as an available skill at the beginning. She had been uneasy about it, as at that point her sexual experiences had been few, limited to her late husband. They hadn't been enjoyable for her, and she had almost received as many bruises from them as his beatings.

 

But one night, Salem had arranged 'an encounter to ease her nerves'. If that's what you could call being blindfolded and bound to a bed, left to the mercy of an unknown partner.

 

It could have gone a lot worse, she had considered after. In fact, whoever he had been had been unexpectedly kind, and his touches almost felt nervous.

 

She had a theory about who it had been actually, but she'd never questioned him. If for no other reason, it would save him denying it if he was so inclined.

 

But that was the past.

 

Since Beacon her encounters had been far and few between, and none recent enough for that.   
"Why would Ironwood think I was pregnant?"

 

Cinder frowned and pinched the bridge of her nose as she tried to think. Perhaps someone had simply mixed up her medical tests? Unlikely-her dna had to be altered by now, and she doubted the results hadn't been double checked and verified.

 

"Here's an idea," Amber offered, finally joining the conversation from the corner of the cell. She was leaning against a wall with her arms crossed, "Watts was a mad scientist. Maybe he was mistaken. Maybe the Grimm presence slows the gestation period."

 

_ What? _ Cinder squinted at Amber, but not because of her suggestion. The late Fall Maiden should have already known  _ everything _ Cinder did. She could dig around her memories if she liked-it was because of that Cinder had remembered her birth name. Amber had extracted it from her memories to toss at her and taunt her.

 

Cinder had insisted on additional tests. She hadn't realized she'd still had daydreams of becoming a mother until Watts proclaimed she couldn't. It hadn't just been absent periods; it hadn't just been his word. She had been present for an ultrasound of her track, she had watched the internal images scanned from her body fill the screen.

 

Also, Grimm reproducing naturally was  _ extremely rare _ . Cinder wasn't even entirely sure if they really had; or if older Grimm had just taken to younger Grimm in family structures. Regardless, none of them were originally human who had become Grimmified Abominations.

 

All things Amber should have known. Be she haunting Cinder in her mind, or a hallucination, she still would have had that information.

 

Something was  _ very _ wrong with this.

 

Cinder decided not to let on yet, not until she had a better idea of what was happening.   
"-I've shown no symptoms, even if that was possible. It's not. I definitely wasn't any stage of pregnant at Beacon, and there haven't exactly been opportunities since."

 

Pyrrha had gone quiet beside her, but Cinder wasn't looking at her. In fact, she was silently questioning her as well. She had wondered since she woke up why they were both still there.  _ Her Maiden powers were gone _ . But the ghosts of the Maidens remained, despite the fact that what had tethered them to her didn't. She'd settled on the fact that she'd snapped and was hallucinating them to have someone to talk to.

 

Until now.

 

"I mean other then you sleeping all the time, the soreness, the obvious hormonal urges, and your lack of appetite? I don't know, there have been menfolk around," Amber lifted her arm to gesture at Cinder, "There's a chance."   
"Watts hates me almost as much as I hate him. Tyrian is just insane and completely devoted and laser focused on Salem. And Hazel-" Cinder sighed, "I'm not the type of woman a man like Hazel would go for."   
"Funny, I'd have said the same thing about Ironwood," Amber snorted, "And yet you just ran the reunion tour."

"That has a history."   
"Yes, you seduced him once to get at his scroll, big whoop," She scoffed, "Your point is?"

"No. I had a relationship with him while I was in Beacon."

 

Amber looked surprised at that admission, and Cinder's eyes narrowed. The late Fall Maiden bounced back after a moment and shrugged.   
"I mean if that's what you'd call it."

"I didn't. But I suppose I should. There's no other descriptor."

 

Hadn't Amber taken to calling him Jimmy to taunt her, ever since she'd remembered that dance in her fever dreams?

 

"Whatever, it's not like there wasn't another possibility."   
"Excuse me?" Cinder honestly couldn't imagine what she was talking about now. "I just listed every available man in Salem's Domain, and the very valid reasons I couldn't be pregnant by any of them."   
"Yeah huh, because it definitely can't be your miracle baby with Mercury."

 

That was it. The final nail. This was not Amber.

"Who the hell are you?" Cinder stood up, "What are you? What do you know?"

"Cinder, you know who I am, you killed me," She rolled her eyes, "Now you're questioning my presence?"

"No. I'm questioning who you are," Cinder growled, "When Amber was bound to me, ghost or hallucination, she saw into my head, my memories. She knew everything I did."   
"Well yeah, I do know everything you do, so?" Not Amber countered, "You're really losing it. Chill out, it isn't good for the baby."   
"Which is how I know Amber would know damn well I have never even remotely considered Mercury Black in that sense," Cinder made a face, "And honestly the idea disturbs me. They're-they're family. He and Emerald. But I have never desired him or pursued him in a physical way. Which Amber knew. She referred to them as the two good things I had done with my life, even if they were eating the poisoned fruit. Now what are you?"

 

"Wait, really?" Amber's voice was the first to change as her posture did, "I was sure at least one of them was your lover. I couldn't imagine why else you insisted on bringing them everywhere."

 

Her voice. Cinder's eyes widened as the woman pressed her outstretched fingers together in front of her. It was a familiar stance, so she knew before the Maiden's armor began to change into a black gown. But she couldn't say it until the woman was taller, her skin white, and her eyes piercing red.   
" _ Salem? _ "

"Surprise," She chuckled, "Watts mentioned you admitted to hallucinating Amber, so I thought it was best to take that ruse. Didn't want to startle you too soon."

 

Watts.

Medical results.

 

"I'm your contingency plan," Cinder spoke as she stared down at your hands, "And Watts faked everyone else's deaths so no one would notice him slipping back into Atlas."   
"No one looks for dead people," Salem answered with a smirk, "You always were so clever."

 

"I don't understand. Did he plant something on me? I know it can't actually be a baby, I can't actually be pregnant. But he could have altered my hormones in some way so the markers-"   
"Darling it's not that complicated," Salem stopped her, "The results were completely fabricated. All he did was inject something to disconnect you from the Maiden Magic, and make you a little sick. Thus, Atlas would send a doctor to do a second check up."

 

The doctor with the face mask, the surgical cap, and the safety goggle flashed into her mind. Cinder frowned and nodded quietly.   
"It wasn't about protection. It was so I wouldn't know who was taking my blood, because if I did, I might ruin everything."   
"I have to admit I was a touch worried when Schnee walked in, but apparently she's not that special," Salem frowned, "Which reminds me-you saved her life?!"

"Yeah I see now you don't have the full access to my mind, but you're definitely snooping with my eyes and ears," Cinder murmured.   
"Everything since you woke up in this cell the first time, Dear," Salem's frown faded as she strolled across the room, "But no, I can't read your thoughts. Obviously that's what ruined the illusion."

 

Cinder frowned and rubbed her forehead, but she never entirely looked away. Obviously, Salem wasn't really there, but she had bound herself somehow.

"How are you here? I already eliminated the possibility that I'm pregnant, so I'm definitely not carrying your clone body or something."

"Oh, that was a ruse to give me time. We couldn't afford to have them executing you, and there's standing bylaws everywhere about executing a pregnant woman. Nine months should be more than enough time."

"Enough time for you to do what?"

 

Salem considered her before she held up one of her hands, and the familiar image of the Grimm Scarab appeared in her palm.   
"Do you know what the Scarab represents in ancient cultures, Cinder? The cycle of the sun. Never ending, only resting for a short time before returning. I got the idea from dear Ozpin, and his survival mechanism."

 

Everything felt cold.  _ She _ was the contingency plan. No-it seemed she had always been the end game. The Scarab had been summoned to steal Amber's Maiden powers, and then it had disappeared inside Cinder. It had been summoned from the glove that held Salem's insignia.

 

"You wanted the powers," She started, feeling strangely calm given all the revelations, "But for some reason you couldn't steal them yourself."   
"Ozpin made sure of that a long time ago," Salem agreed, "So I need to put them somewhere else. And additionally I realized, as I wasn't a great and powerful wizard, I needed to create the connection in advance. Fortunately you accepted the Scarab completely voluntarily."

"I told you I wanted to be powerful," Cinder felt rage rising in her chest, "That I wanted to stronger. And feared."

"And indeed you shall," Salem smirked, "There's relatively few people who won't know you're not the one in residence anymore."

 

Her body.

She was literally the contingency plan. Salem had wanted to gather the powers of the Maiden's into a body that could accept them-and then eventually she would take control of it.

 

"I won't let you use me," Cinder turned away, though she couldn't quite figure out what to do, "But who-"

 

She finally turned back to the young woman sitting beside her on the bed, and became very confused. She'd expected the space to be empty, that Pyrrha was simply a hallucination. Or perhaps it had been another element of Salem's deception. Instead, there sat a different young woman.

 

She was about Cinder's age, and quite beautiful. She was wearing a varsity style jacket, red and white, over a white camisole. Oxblood red boots ended a few inches beneath her knees, and her stockings were bright red that ran up her legs until they disappeared under a black denim skirt. She definitely had a theme going on, too. Her belt buckle was heart shaped, and on one hand was a charm bracelet that held an arrow and heart. There was a quiver of arrows strapped over her shoulder, the feathers at the end of the shaft bright red and pink, and the strap also held a heart shaped latch securing it. Even her jacket had a heart with an arrow through it on one side.

 

It was the choker that gave Cinder pause. Not everyone wore chokers-some people found them uncomfortable. This stranger was wearing a black choker with a small red heart charm, matching the rose gold circlet on her forehead. She hadn't realized she was avoiding looking at her face until she was. This other woman, illusion or hallucination, had long black hair, and amber gold eyes.

  
"Who-are you?" Cinder whispered, and her companion smiled sadly. 

"Hello, Cinder Fall," she answered, "I'm Ai Zhang."


	22. Act Five, Scene Two

_After The War_

_ Atlas Military Headquarters _

_ General Ironwood's Office _

  
  


* * *

 

It was nearly dawn when Ironwood made it back to his office. He hadn't completely fixed his uniform, too distracted by his own foolish actions. Why had he done that? He couldn't say he'd allowed it to happen-he was an active participant. In the end, he decided as he stepped inside his door, there were two reasons. The most obvious was that when two people know they enjoy having sex together, they would often do so again. The less obvious was despite being a fairly skilled military strategist, General James Ironwood had absolutely no defense or idea what to do when a woman began to cry.

 

"-Oh my god, is this why you sent me away?"

 

Ironwood jerked his head up at the exclamation, and was startled to see Winter sitting beside his desk.   
"How long have you-"

"I'd barely left when I got Cinder Fall's medical evaluation, and I wanted to come talk to you about the new circumstances," Winter paused,  and she looked away, "No. That's a lie. I had a moment of panic when I saw them, before I could apply math. What if the general's the father. That crossed my mind almost instantly, probably because I've just been avoiding asking or talking to you about your affair with her, because you never purposely told me."

 

Her eyes were cold as she faced him again.   
"But now I think there's the possibility you've been up to your old habits, revisiting temptations, so hell, she's been here a couple weeks now."

"Winter-I-"

 

Ironwood was trying to keep up, and he was failing. How had she found out about before? Was she implying that she thought he'd been sleeping with Cinder since they'd captured her?  _ Why did the fear send you back here to ask me about the affair? _

 

"-I never meant to see her again," He spoke softly, finding himself unable to look at Winter right then, "I went to her cell for the first time tonight. After I got the results. All I had intended to do was tell her the news."

"The state of your uniform and your hair tells me that is not all you did."

 

There was venom in her voice, and he couldn't blame her. It was strange that she had once been his student, because he felt vaguely like the school boy being reprimanded by his teacher.

 

"I-asked her a question instead. To confirm what you found out."

"Do you know why she did it? Why she really did it?"

 

Oh gods no. This was not how this could come out. It's not that he had ever concluded if he would tell her or not, but he was hard pressed to imagine worse circumstances. She had come to his office to ask him about the affair she somehow knew about. He hadn't been there. She might have been in there waiting all night. And when he finally returned, his nocturnal activity was obvious by his state of dishevelment

 

"Do you know why she saved my life, General Ironwood?"

 

Something about her tone made him flinch. It was icy; she had discarded the sense of camaraderie between them. It almost sounded like an interrogation.

 

He lifted his eyes from the ground to find she had stepped considerably closer, and angry grey blue eyes were watching him, waiting for an answer. He couldn't lie to her. Wouldn't? Did it matter which?

 

"Yes."

"Were you in league with the enemy over the course of the war?"   
"What?" He shook his head, "-No. No that's not it. That would be surprisingly simple."   
"I know she's not a spy for us. Or if she is, she's completely off the books, and you never even told me," Winter's fists were clenched at either side, "So why did she save my life that day?"

"Because-"

 

He couldn't find the words. He knew the words. But that didn't explain it all, did it?

 

"-at this moment I really wish you drank, because it's a complicated matter to say the least," He admitted.   
"Why?" She wasn't backing down, and he thought she might be trembling with rage.

 

"-because during the original affair we became close in unexpected ways," He was struggling to find the words, "And apparently she came to care about me to some capacity. Not romantic, we've both reviewed and agreed, but general."   
"I don't care about the affair right now," Winter was shifting, and he could see she was resisting reaching for a weapon, "Just. Tell me what you know. Please."

"She saved your life because she knew if you died it would destroy me."

 

Whatever possibility Winter had come to in her mind, that was not it. The anger left her, replaced by confusion, and then something else. Tension remained in her form though, and he realized it was recognition on her face.   
"No. That's impossible. That can't be the reason."

"I didn't think it could be either. Until you shared the reason she gave you," Ironwood felt a bittersweet smile forming, "Because you are a lucky woman. Her words. She was very insistent about it."

 

The hint of the smile left him when her expression shifted. Recognition became betrayal and hurt.

"I don't understand."

"Winter-"

"If you're saying what I think you're saying," Winter's voice cracked, and Ironwood felt his heart do the same when she lifted her eyes to meet his. He could count on one hand the number of times he'd seen her really cry, and still afford to lose a few.

 

"-you're saying to reason she saved my life, is because if I died, it would destroy you. And yet you sent me away, and when I returned you'd slept with the woman who sent you so far into a bottle of whiskey you resembled my mother at her worst."

 

He didn't have anything to say in response. Nothing she said was  _ wrong _ . And that was more or less the situation. So he simply nodded.

"Yes."

 

Winter became silent but she turned away from him. What could he say? What could he do? She had called him out, and she'd been on the mark. He couldn't defend himself, not truly.

"Winter, I'm so-"   
"Don't."

"Please," He reached out without thinking, and Winter stepped further away, only speaking once she was holding the doorway.   
"Don't even think of touching me. Don't talk to me. I need to process. You were right about that. I just didn't know what I was processing yet."


	23. Act Five, Scene Three

_ After the war _

_ Atlas Grand Hotel _

_ The Bar _

 

* * *

 

 

"Okay, you all have got to sort your shit out. I am getting really tired of being the hypocritical asshole telling people they shouldn't drink."

 

Winter snorted softly and took her eyes off the untouched cocktail on the bar. She was far too used to Qrow just popping up.

"You're right. It is hypocritical. Why are you here?"   
"Hot date with your-" Qrow paused and winced, "-never mind. That joke would be in really poor taste for you."

"Qrow, if you told me you were secretly my mother's lover, it would probably be the least strange thing today."

"And it's only ten in the morning," Qrow sighed, "I got an anxious voice mail when I woke up. Consisting of 'I screwed up, damn it, I screwed up so bad. She's left and no one knows where she went. I can't go after her-I've done enough, she doesn't want to see me, it would just make it worse'. Odds were it was about you."

"And why would you conclude from that jumbled mishmash that he screwed something up with me?" Winter rolled her eyes. "Not exactly conclusive."   
"True. But combined with the fact that he doesn't know a lot of people, and he was frantic enough to try to call me for help-oh, and if he's looking for people he generally asks you to do it, so obviously you weren't available-I put it together," Qrow reached over to snatch the untouched drink from the bar, "Oh, and that he's secretly been in love with you years. I assumed it had something to do with that."

 

Winter narrowed her eyes to glare at him.   
"That's not funny."   
"I'm not joking."

"You can't possibly know that."   
"I'm a spy, Winter. We're both spies. Finding out and knowing shit is literally what we do for a living," He downed the beverage in one gulp and whistled, "-yeah, you would not have made it through that."

 

Winter huffed and crossed her arms.   
"You didn't seem to be bothered."   
"You've never had a drop of alcohol in your life. I take it with my oxygen. That's the difference," Qrow observed her, "-He banged Fall again, didn't he?"   
"Why are you so crude?" Winter turned away, refusing to maintain eye contact then.   
"That's a yes. And you're jealous?"   
"Oh god do I wish that was it," Winter held her forehead, "I really don't want to talk to you about this. We're not friends, Qrow."   
"Honestly I don't care if you do. Like I said, I'm here because I got a frantic phone call from Jimmy about screwing things up and you're having run off. I'll let him know your puritan values are keeping you out of trouble."

 

He stood up then, swayed, and began to walk away. Winter winced and turned on her stool to look at him.   
"What would you do if you were me, in my position?"   
"What, realizing that my superior office-literally the only officer higher in rank then me-has romantic feelings for me, which compliments my against regulations devoted passion and affection?"

 

Winter made a face at how he phrased it, but she nodded slowly.   
"And that he slept with Cinder Fall, who he says saved my life because she knew if I died it would devastate him."

"Well, shit. Didn't see that part coming-I mean the sleeping with her, yeah, old history, but that she saved your life because he loved you? Anyway. What would I do?" Qrow shrugged as he produced his flask. "I'd probably do Jimmy."


	24. Act Five, Scene Four

_ After the War _

_ Cinder's Cell _ _   
_ _ Classified Location _

_ Atlas _

 

* * *

 

 

"This isn't happening."

 

Cinder was holding her arms folded over her head, trying not to pay attention to the other her. Salem had gone off to wherever she was when she wasn't projecting herself-a place Cinder realized was probably inside of her. But Ai was still there. The adult version of Ai Zhang was sitting on the floor across from her.

"I-" She sighed, "I developed as a counter. You subconsciously knew something was off, so you produced a counter. Which basically means I'm you. So you are literally talking to yourself."   
"Awesome. Shut up. I'm done talking to myself." Cinder murmured bitterly.

"No. You're not. Because you just found out that bitch has been playing you since day one, and we  both know you're not going to stand and let that happen."

"Why shouldn't I?" She glanced up slowly, "I don't know what else to do. I'm here. What, I tell them the truth? They have absolutely no reason to believe me, and I'm sure Watts is covering his tracks to prevent detection."

"I mean the truth is a good back up plan, but you don't count on people. We stand on ourselves and enjoy when others occasionally provide unexpected report," Ai rolled her eyes and leaned back, "But you can't just lay back and accept you're going to disappear while she rides your body around as her new meat suit."

"I don't know if I want to stop her," Cinder whispered, "I'm ready to say the long good night."

"You do," Ai huffed, "Because you know she won't leave them alone if you're not there."

 

Cinder raised her Grimm and Human eyes to Ai's annoyed amber eyes.

"Who?"   
"Emerald. Mercury," Ai considered for a moment, "James. When she takes control, she has no reason to leave them alone. And I'd like to remind you she's going to be your doppelganger."

"Says my doppelganger," Cinder hesitated, but a gnawing feeling was rising in the back of her throat.

 

Salem had always been rather dismissive of her teammates-and Ironwood was a major adversary. Emerald wouldn't even question it if she saw Cinder, she'd run to her. She wouldn't consider the possibility that it was someone else wearing her.

 

If Salem struck Emerald, Mercury would react and lunge. And she had a feeling Salem would be far more deadly with the  Maiden powers then she ever was.  _ Powers I still have but can't access apparently _ . Some sort of trick Watts had done, but again, she was almost certain Salem could turn them back on once she was in control.

 

"I see the gears turning," Ai chimed, "And oh yeah. You're bizarre ass end backwards fairy godmother thing for James and Winter? Basically kiss that goodbye. She will kill one or both of them, and if they're lucky, that's all she'll do to them. Especially now that she knows you saved her for him. That is going to piss her off, and she will take it out on them."

 

_ Fuck _ . Cinder held her head, because it was all true. Hell, Ironwood had proven quite recently she could get unusually close to him. 

 

Ai Zhang was her. She was Ai Zhang. This particular hallucination was her subconscious manifested. She was forcing herself to deal with this now, to process the information, and do something about it.

 

Cinder stood up and approached the forcefield. It was back in place, she wasn't going to be walking out the door. Even if she did  get out, what then? She may have had a clawed arm, but that only went so far. She didn't have the power of the elements anymore. She-

 

"Ai?"   
"Hm?" Ai looked up.   
"I still have my semblance, don't I?"

 

Cinder turned, and her echo grinned at her.

"Yeah, I'd wager you did, if you still know how. That sort of thing isn't use it or lose it."

"And even if she cut off the maiden powers to me," Cinder considered, "That's bound to me. My soul. Not something she can take."

"I mean she might be able to use it if she takes over but, yeah, that's the gist."   
"She's not taking over."

 

Cinder was pinching her claws together as though she was a girl examining her manicure. Ai jumped up to her feet and crossed to join her.   
"Sounds like you've got a plan."   
"I've got an idea. Step one features blood. Step two features murder."

"Sounds about like a lot of your plans, honestly."

  
"Our plans." Cinder smirked softly, then lowered her arm to scan the room. There was surveillance-Ironwood had confirmed that when he said he'd turned it off. You couldn't turn off something that wasn't there.

 

"-I don't know if anyone is ever going to see, or hear this. I don't even know if the feed is back on," Cinder spoke then, loudly, and annunciated every word, "But I need to clarify something. What I'm doing next is not about being a hero. It's not about seeking redemption. It's not because I'm a good person, because I'm really not. But I'm not going to die as Salem's puppet. I'm not going to disappear quietly into the night. Because there's three people on the face of Remnant I give a shit about. Three people I care about, and would like to have generally good lives. And if that bitch comes back using me, they won't. They may not even live. So. Emerald. Mercury. James. Everything I do after this moment. I do for you."

 

And then she drew her claws and drove them into her own lower abdomen with a scream.   
"Holy shit!" Ai exclaimed, "Shit, what are we doing?"   
"This plays out two ways," Cinder grimaced through gritted teeth as she forced her claws further into her body, "Maybe three. One, no one shows up, I bleed out, I die. Her plan is fucked. Two, someone notices, they come get me to treat me."   
"How is that helpful?"

"Because right now I'm trying to get at my shriveled reproductive bits," Cinder coughed, "Which means anyone worth their medical degree will know I can't be pregnant."

"-you thought this up in that little time?" Ai whispered as she knelt next to her.

"I work well under pressure."

 

The pain was getting bad. She couldn't keep pushing her claws in. But she also felt faint. She wasn't sure if she messed up anything internal, but when she slumped she felt blood soak into her scrubs-a lot of blood.

 

"Ai?" Cinder whispered faintly as she rolled onto her back, the world spinning around her.   
"Yeah, Me?" Ai was beside her, a hand on hers, "You're a hero."   
"We don't really think that."   
"You're right. We don't. But you are a weird fucked up fairy godmother."   
"That might be true," Cinder laughed, but it ended with coughing up blood, "Will you stay?"

"Till you die or till they show up," Ai nodded, "I'm here."

 

Minutes were ticking by. The pain was getting worse.    
"Remember why he beat us the final time?" Ai whispered softly. Cinder squinted, shut her eyes, and shook her head.   
"No. Something I did pissed him off. But I don't recall the particulars."

"You were looking up child care systems at the academies," Ai sighed, "You had narrowed it down to Atlas or Vacuo."

"...That's right," She laughed weakly, cut off by another cough, "I was going to save the world. I was going to be a mother, I was going to take my child, and I was going to get away from him. And I was going to become a huntsman."

"Think if we'd gone to Vacuo, we'd have still nailed Ironwood at a Vytal Festival?" Ai queried, and Cinder managed a weak smile.   
"I think if we had a chance, we'd have still made a move if we'd gone to Atlas."

 

Ai laughed again, but Cinder became aware it was faint and distant.  _ This is it. _ The end. It was strange. She felt horrid, having just impaled herself, but she didn't feel particularly dead or dying.

 

Then the door to her cell opened, and hands were lifting her off the ground.


	25. Act Five, Scene Five

_After the War_

_ Atlas Military Medical Facilities _ _   
_ _ Recovery Room _

_ Atlas _

* * *

 

What had gone wrong?

 

_ No one _ was onto him. Not even Ironwood had realized that the disgraced scientist had shaved off his mustache and waltzed back into Atlas Military Facilities. Well, he had created a new identity to apply.

 

When Salem was defeated, Tyrian was left to set up the corpses in the conference room, and Watts had gone searching for Cinder. He'd found her, in spectacularly terrible shape after battling the silver eyed girl. He'd been uneasy about Salem's plan then, even after he slipped the final creature into one of Cinder's wounds. The easiest way to describe the final form of Salem, which only served to be brought to her new host, was a larvae.

 

But then there'd been luck. He'd heard the children Cinder dragged around everywhere, and made himself scarce. As he'd predicted, they'd brought her somewhere her wounds would be treated-and in turn, Salem sealed inside her body.

 

By the time they removed the scarab, the binding was complete. Salem would simply need time to take control of Cinder's body. It was made slightly more difficult by her apparent death wish, but he'd already forged records that indicated pregnancy. He was quite proud of himself actually-he didn't make the call. He'd simply set records that any medical technician would look at and recognize as pregnancy.

 

The fact that they weren't actually Cinder's wasn't questioned.

 

But something had gone wrong. Some unexpected element had caused Cinder Fall to attempt to claw out her own guts. He had never been so pissed at the insolent girl as when he had to work in the OR to sew her back together. Fortunately, she hadn't pierced anything vital in the action.

 

Now he was watching the machines, taking notes on her vital signs. She was alive, if a little worse off. He leaned, identity concealed once more by a surgical cap and a face mask, as he touched his stethoscope to her chest.

"I've never worked with someone so much trouble as this girl-" He paused then.

 

The left arm had twitched. He squinted and moved towards it where he placed two fingers on the wrist.   
"-Milady?" He whispered quietly.

 

He didn't see her right arm moving until the glass was piercing through his gut. He choked, and coughed up blood as Cinder opened her eyes.   
  


She tore out the IV and shoved him to the ground, mismatched eyes glaring the death he was experience. 

 

"My life, and death, are mine. I will not be Salem's Sacrifice."


	26. Final Act, Scene One

_ After the War _ _   
_ _ Atlas Military Center Corridor _

_ Atlas _

 

* * *

 

Truthfully, she hadn't planned out anything past murdering Watts. She'd been pleased she could use her semblance, though it had taken more effort then she liked. Perhaps, she concluded, because she had just attempted to tear at her own insides, and been sewn back up.

 

The stitches definitely slowed her down. She couldn't afford to just drop; likely they would just bring her back to the ICU, or her cell. Or maybe they'd make an ICU cell. It didn't matter-staying wasn't an option. Her  _ only _ option was to keep going. She didn't have a plan; but she did have an end game. And she was desperate to make it happen.

 

Escaping the recovery room was easy, but almost as soon as she hit the corridor, alarms began to go off, and lights began to spin in red above her head. Cinder growled, suddenly aware her favorite color may not hold that role forever, and looked around, frantic.

 

Doors were closing. The elevator was never an option, not really. She didn't have maiden powers at her command, even if they were still dormant inside her body. If she got stuck in a box in a shaft, it would be all too easy for them to recapture her.

 

In the distance through one of the windows, she saw a tower that a helicopter was leaving from. It was linked to a large structure-one she recognized as a hangar for airships and hovercraft.  _ There _ . She turned, noticing an enclosed walkway linked to it-one she hoped linked to the building she was in.

 

She didn't have time to second guess it. Cinder was barefoot, bleeding from her incision site, wearing her hospital gown and a pair of scrub pants she now regretted stopping to pull on. And the door she needed was attempting to slide shut before she could get there.

 

_ "What have you done?" _

 

Salem screeched in her ears, and Cinder smirked as she lunged down the hall. Good. Let her rage. Let her understand that she would resist her.

 

She had never agreed to be a puppet.   
She'd agreed to a  _ lot _ of horrible things; she wouldn't argue that. But her own free will was something that stayed on the table or the deal ended.

 

After all, the Fall Maiden was supposed to represent choice, right?

 

" _ You insolent girl!" _   
  
"Yeah, yeah."

 

Salem wasn't her worry at that point. No, her focus was the distance between her and the door. Cinder was moving as fast as she could, but it didn't look good.  _ I'm not going to make it _ . It didn't help her left leg was dragging since she came to, and she couldn't use it to run. She'd tried not to breath in too much of the sedatives before the surgery, to hold her breath, and put up with the pain. It seemed that plan hadn't been as effective as Cinder had hoped.

 

She was going to miss it. The door was already closed past what she had any chance of getting through.  _ No. _

 

_ "Serves you right _ ."

 

Cinder fell in a heap against the sliding metal and glass panel, and she tried to curl her fingers around the edge to pull it back.

 

Except a sound of metal against wood caused her to lift amber eyes upwards. Someone had shoved a black piece of wood- _ a cane?- _ between the door and the opening, making it impossible to close completely. A grunt echoed as someone drew their hand in the gap to pull it open, and when they became visible before her, Cinder gaped.

 

He'd grown a few inches since Haven, and he wasn't dressed like a farm boy anymore. No, Oscar Pine was dressed in a strangely familiar outfit of black jacket, suit pants, and a green scarf.   
"Come on!" The youth tossed his arm out towards her, "We don't have time! Ozpin suspected but we couldn't do anything until we knew!"

 

_ Of course! _ Cinder nodded and took his hand to pull herself up and slid through the gap he'd created.   
"What tipped him off?" She queried as Oscar led her down the hall.   
"Well, all the effort to fake the death of the rest of her inner circle, while you mysteriously survived your  battle with Ruby!" He called back over his shoulder, "He doubted they would have just given up with them-because even if they worked for Salem, Hazel and Watts at least had their own agenda!"

"Watts is dead," Cinder responded as they turned a corner, and she noted they were headed for the building she'd seen, "Or at the very least, dying in the recovery room."

"-Uh, okay then," Oscar swallowed, "He says sorry, by the way!"   
"Who?"   
"Ozpin! He figures if it's what he thinks it is, she got the idea from him!"   
"She may have said something along those lines..."

 

Oscar gave her a sheepish smiled over his shoulder, then noticed her posture as he tossed the cane out to stop the next door from closing.   
"-did you injure yourself? You're limping."

 

Cinder was about to offer a reply when she overcompensating for the direction of the closing door and ramming into the left side of the doorway. She groaned and stumbled through as Oscar looked her over in alarm.

 

"-You can't control your leg leg, can you?" He murmured quietly, and she couldn't help but feel like between the glance and the question his posture had shifted.   
"Not since they stitched me up," Cinder winced as she drew a hand down. It wasn't a surprise her stitches had torn open at impact.

"And the arm?"

  
He had turned away from her, looking between the two corridors the path split into. Before she could answer, he had lifted his cane over his shoulder. She was about to question the action when she saw the motion in the corner of her eye; her clawed arm had tried to slash him.

 

"What the hell?" Cinder turned to stare, "I swear, I didn't-"

"You've lost control of the Grimm half of your body because Salem is taking charge of what she can," His tone was very different when he spoke this, and jogged down another hall. Cinder moved as quickly as she could behind him, and he continued, "Your left eye, probably the ear. Your sense of direction is shot because she's split it. Your left leg is uncooperative because she wants the plan to fail, and she attacked me because I'm helping you-among other reasons."

"She needed more time-" Cinder protested meekly as they rounded a corner, "-how can she be-"

"Its probable she wanted more time to grimmify the rest of your body, to condition it for her arrival. Or at least, the majority of it.  Enough that she could take full control of your senses and function, but leaving enough of your body human to retain the potential of magic."

 

That brought a new terrifying question to her mind. If Salem took control, would Cinder simply disappear? Or would it be worse? Would she be trapped behind her own eyes and ears, unable to stop her?

 

"Stand down, Ai!"

 

The present drew her back like a punch to her gut. Cinder's eye widened when they came face to face with Ironwood, who was holding his pistol more like a bludgeoning implement then a gun.   
"I can't," Cinder whispered weakly, "I'm sorry."

"I can't guarantee anything for your allies if you continue this path!" He announced, looking past Oscar, and at her.

 

"And if I don't, no one is safe," Cinder answered.

"Whatever you're thinking-" He began as he stepped forward towards them.   
" _ James let the damn girl by, you have no idea what she is dealing with because you are a man of science, and this is a matter of magic! _ "

 

Cinder blinked as Ironwood stepped back, seemingly stunned by Oscar's exclamation. Once again she noticed something was different about his tone, and she swallowed.

"Farm...boy?"

 

A snort answered her as the form of the young man drew his cane upwards like a sword.

"Miss Fall, it's very rude of you not to bother learning his name when he's trying to help you, you know."

"Ozpin?" Ironwood exclaimed in confusion, "What are you doing? Why are you helping her?"   
"Because she is trying to help all of us," Oscar's face never turned from Ironwood, "Or at the very least, her actions would benefit all of us. Let us past, or I'll have to force the matter."

"This is madness, Oz!" Ironwood gestured, "She's had a psychological break, that's the explanation! She injured herself, and after the operation she killed a doctor and made a break for it!"   
"Perhaps it is, James, but that changes not the reality."

"I killed the Doctor because he was my enemy," Cinder warned, "Yours too, actually. Go check out the body. Add a cartoonishly large mustache. See if he looks familiar."

"Ai-" Ironwood stepped forward again, as though he intended to attempt reason and diplomacy with her.

 

Oscar-or Ozpin, borrowing Oscar's form-blocked him. In a blur of black and a streak of green, he was directly in Ironwood's path. From there he swung the cane down from above, forcing the other headmaster to use his revolver to block it.

"Cinder, I have good news!" Ozpin shouted over his shoulder, "This isn't the way to the hangar!"   
"What?" Cinder exclaimed, "Why-"   
"Because I knew Ironwood would catch up with us at the split, so I wanted him to engage us at the wrong side!"

 

In another blur, Ironwood was trying to swing the revolver to disable. Clearly the general was trying to keep Oscar in mind, not nearly as much of the aggressor as he should have been. On the other hand, Ozpin didn't seem to be holding back.

"So you need to keep going, Cinder!" Ozpin snapped, and before her the forms were moving ridiculously fast. The General's uniform was a blur of white with a splash of dark, and the wizard's form was darkness with a hint of green.

"Ai, you're not well!" Ironwood shouted this as he tried, and failed, to get past the blockade presented by Ozpin and his host. "Please, you can still-"

"I'm not pregnant! Do the tests again."

 

The exclamation startled him long enough for Ozpin to get a decent knock back, and Cinder whirled to leave. As she continued her mad dash for the next door, she couldn't help but consider how much she wished that wasn't likely the last thing she'd ever say to him. Like almost everything else she'd ever said or done to the people she cared about, he deserved better.


	27. Final Act; Scene Two

_ After the War _ _  
_ _ Atlas Military High Security Containment Cells _

_ Atlas _

* * *

 

Something was happening outside.

 

Hazel didn't know what was happening, but he knew the power had flickered a couple times, and a variety of alarms were going off. Emerald was shouting at a surveillance camera, demanding an explanation that wouldn't come. Likely all their resources were focused on dealing with whatever was causing the alarm.

 

Grimm had trouble reaching Atlas, so that meant it was far more likely to be an attack. He considered Cinder for the briefest moment, but didn't think it was likely. His former associate had been trying to trade her life for a freedom of the young people in the the same cell block as him. 

 

Mercury was relatively quiet, and honestly, it bothered him. Not that Hazel didn't like the quiet, as he himself was not the most conversational. But in what time he had shared with the silver haired young man before Salem fell, he knew quiet wasn't his way. He had a quick tongue, and usually lacked the sense not to say anything when it was appropriate.

 

So the fact that he had said maybe three dozen words-usually when prompted by Emerald-meant he wasn't alright. Hazel had a variety of suspicions, but the top of the list were Cinder and Emerald. Cinder had brought them in with a promise of power, and it would appear in her own strange way, cared about the two. That had been confirmed by her words to Hazel in the cell, repeating the plan she had shared with Emerald, and additional details.

  
Cinder didn't have a game plan. She had an end game. It consisted of getting them off as lightly as possible, and volunteering herself for death. Honestly her melancholy worried him almost as much as Mercury's morose silence. She was strangeless resolved to the end.

 

_ Perhaps she always has been _ . He considered idly, recalling a very different girl who'd been brought into their circle at the beginning. Bruised, modest, and quiet. As the bruises faded, she'd grown into quite the opponent for their enemies. The thing was, Hazel knew it was a lot easier to live for a cause, then to keep going after it was lost. He just hadn't realized Cinder had so little to keep going for.

 

He certainly didn't realize she'd arrived on the cell block until Emerald exclaimed.   
"You're way late, Boss," Mercury's subtle smirk arrived as he sat up, and Emerald was laughing with relief.   
"That was some batshit plan, Cinder!" Emerald exclaimed.

"Yeah, well, it didn't work out, plans change," Cinder huffed as she used a large chunk of obsidian to break through the electronic locks on her cell, then Mercury's, and Hazel was surprised when she came to his, "I was making a deal. But circumstances changed. And I'm pretty sure they're not going to honor the terms when it's done."

 

That...was peculiar. Hazel raised a brow and tried to imagine what would have made Cinder shift her plan so radically. She was already resolved to get herself executed-so what could have driven her to endanger Emerald and Mercury's end game?

 

As soon as the door was open, Emerald jumped out to hug Cinder. It was when she tried to awkwardly return it Hazel became aware she was only using her right arm-and that her clawed left was hanging loosely at her side, limp. Her left leg was strangely positioned compared to the right-had she had an accident?

  
"Circumstances?" Mercury raised a brow as he emerged from his cell.   
"-The quick version, Mercury, is I'm giving you one last order. And Hazel, I need to ask you a favor," Cinder glanced to the larger man and he blinked.   
"You're asking me a favor?"   
"I never had any authority to order you, Hazel," Cinder smiled faintly, and he noticed half her face didn't move, "But I know when I fell in Haven, you took care of them. I need to ask you do that again."

 

Oh.   
Something bad had definitely happened.   
She was leading a breakout not for her, but because if she didn't, the young people who had followed her to Hell and back would be endangered.   
"Done." Hazel nodded once and unfolded his arms.   
"Cinder, I don't understand," Emerald looked confused, "What's happening?"

 

Cinder turned to face them, and both received an awkward one armed hug. Mercury became completely baffled when she let go, and Emerald look scared.   
"Boss?" The silver haired young man asked.   
"You need to get Emerald out of here. It's not going to be easy to get out of Atlas, but if you work together, I believe you'll be able to escape. Especially as long as Hazel is helping you."

"Cinder-you're not coming with us?" Emerald stepped forward, and Cinder stepped back.

 

_ Her leg leg is dragging. Like a child trying not to leave. _

 

"That's my final order, Mercury Black. Get Emerald out of here, and keep each other safe."

"-Yes, Ma'am." Mercury's position shifted, and though he didn't ask Emerald's questions, Hazel could tell he understood.

"I'll see them off until they want rid of me or I fall," Hazel spoke up then, as Emerald began to protest.

"No. No. Cinder, we're leaving together!" Emerald exclaimed.

 

Cinder didn't debate the matter. She only smiled sadly before looking up at Hazel.   
"She's coming back."

 

She?

Who did they know that would-

Oh.

Oh, no.

That would be a very good reason for her erratic behavior.

And why the Grimm side of her body wasn't functioning for her anymore.

 

"Understood."

 

Emerald started to protest again, but before she could get a word, Hazel knelt, grabbed her, and tossed her over his shoulder.   
"Mercury, lead if you would. You have a way with doors."

 

Mercury smirked, saluted, and proceeded to bring down a wall with a power kick. Emerald began to shout, and Hazel felt her hitting his back, but it wasn't slowing him down, or inclining him to set her down. Instead he glanced at Cinder one last time and nodded silent understanding.

"I'll get them out safe. Take her down."


	28. Final Act; Scene Three

_ After the War _ _  
_ _ Atlas Military Center Corridor _

_ Atlas _

* * *

"I am so incredibly sorry!"

Ironwood sighed heavily as Oscar apologized for what may have only been the third time, but felt like longer. Alexandrite and April had appeared to look over their injuries after the duel, though Ironwood knew for a fact the young man had almost none. Even if he hadn't been pulling his punches, Ozpin was inhumanly fast even when controlling a host.

"Oscar, I don't hold Ozpin's actions against you," Though he did wince when April touched his left side through his turtleneck. The wizard hadn't held back, and at least a dozen square jabs had hit him in the general rib cage, "They weren't your doing. You didn't wake up and decide to help a fugitive break out and engage me in combat so she could."

"I-didn't do half of that, that is true," Oscar looked down, "But after we heard about what happened to her, and Cinder being hospitalized, and attacking the doctor-Ozpin thought it was pretty important we help her."

"Did he explain his rationale?"

If he hadn't been lectured, and hadn't seen the boys movements, Ironwood would have assumed Oscar was simply having a mental break.  _ Two people you've decided it makes more sense if they're having a mental break down. Am I projecting? _ He shook the stray thought away as Oscar shifted nervously on his feet.

"-He thought there was a development. We uh. Had heard what Cinder's been up to-trying to get Emerald and Mercury free, and offering her own life in trade. It didn't make sense for her to have been doing all that and pull a crazy near death stunt just to make a break for it."

__

Ironwood hesitated as he listened to the boy; the truth was he was right. That particular course of action-especially since the other night he'd stupidly lowered all the defenses in Cinder's cell when he'd gone to see her. He'd received four reports from the Lawyers of Emerald Strusai and Mercury Black-first from the public defenders, then the ones Winter had brought in-saying their clients were arguing persuasion, psychological manipulation, and coercion in regards to their actions. The reports were putting forward that both young people had been in vulnerable positions in their lives that Cinder Fall had taken advantage of to draw into her control.

__

He'd gotten the report from Cinder's lawyer saying she was making a plea of 'guilty', and the terms she wanted was utter and complete responsibility and blame for the actions of not only her, but Emerald and Mercury.

__

And she'd tried to negotiate her own execution with Winter. Not to avoid it, but to face it.

Wait.

How the hell did Ozpin know about that? It wasn't like Ironwood had gotten very far in consideration, much less processing and paperwork. Who could have-

"Oh for fucks sake, that's why that bird brain has been wandering around Atlas?! Ozpin still has him collecting information?"

__

Oscar looked sheepish when the general exclaimed, which more or less confirmed his suspicions. Qrow Branwen had been turning up at some  _ very  _ random moments since Salem had fallen. Not only had Winter been making remarks and filling reports on it, Ironwood had noticed his tendency to just appear in places had not gone down.

__

_ Forget anti-aircraft. Apparently I need anti-aviant security features. _

__

"I uh, asked Ozpin about him after I first encountered Qrow," He laughed nervously, "Clearly Ozpin trusted him implicitly, as he had our cane. But at first all he seemed like was a drunken huntsman, nothing special."

"I've never questioned Branwen's ability, or his loyalty to Ozpin, but I have wondered about his reliability and stability," Ironwood rubbed his forehead, "What of it?"

"He asked me to keep my eyes open. That that particular night he'd just gotten Ruby and the others to Haven. He was recovering from his own near death experience. And yes, some nights he drank in excess. But he asked me to keep an eye on Qrow when it really mattered-duels, face offs, investigations, and training," Oscar laughed quietly, "I mean he always had his flask on him but the man seemed to hit it considerably less during those times. I mean he still would-probably hair of the dog. I'd never have trusted him to say, drive, but Ozpin was right. He was pretty dependable, and reliable. I asked again after a while, and Oz told me about the value of a fool in the King's Court."

__

_ Son of a bitch _ . That made a ridiculous amount of sense as Ironwood turned to Oscar, the medical technicians exchanging a few things.

"He said if people expected nothing of the fool but to be a fool, they wouldn't worry about him. Thus, the fool might notice things no one else could."   
"It is a classic strategy," Ironwood admitted thoughtfully, "Act the blundering idiot, and people are more likely to let their tongues wag around you."

__

A particular sequence from the 74th Vytal Festival came to mind as he considered it, when Qrow had pushed all of Winter's buttons until she started a fight with him.

__

_ "He is drunk!" _ _  
_ _ "He is always drunk!" _

__

_ And in an almost ridiculous sequence, when they turned to Qrow, he had actively been drinking from his flask. He'd paused, looked at them, looked at the flask, and their conversations had continued. _

__

How much of Qrow Branwen was elaborate performance?

How much had he personally revealed without realizing it?

__

He would dwell on that more later. He probably would have considered it more then, except his attention was caught by one of the medics.

  
"Oh, General!" April perked up, "I was hoping to talk to you-the Jane Doe? Is there any chance I could do a physical exam of her, get to meet her? The results of the blood panels I ran were fascinating!"

__

Ironwood cracked the faintest smile as he glanced up at her. He'd almost completely forgotten he'd had her compare Cinder's blood to the older samples of Ai Zhang.

"Ah, I don't think so, I'm afraid. But I appreciate all the work you did."   
"Awe," She huffed, "I looked over the reports on the girl. The circumstances are really heartbreaking, and I was wondering if she'd let me try something to help her condition."

__

Ironwood chuckled faintly and shook his head.   
"Ah, no. I think she's aware of what options she has in regards to her pregnancy, and what she might do next." In fact he had a terrible feeling the information was what had pushed her over the edge.

"Pregnancy?" April scrunched her face, and the medical tech turned to look straight at him, "General-look over my report again. She's sterile. I believe it's a side effect of those strange foreign antibodies, but the PH on her blood balance-honestly I'm shocked she's alive at all."

__

What.

What?

_ What?! _

__

Ironwood whirled around to look at Oscar, whose smug expression told him it wasn't the farm boy who met his gaze.   
"She did tell you, James."

__

Pieces of a puzzle he hadn't known were connected were sliding into place. Why they'd found three dead bodies crafted to look like Salem's inner circle-except for Cinder. Why Cinder had not only risked all of her deals, but risked death by impaling herself on her Grimmified arm, all apparently to run a surgeon through.

__

_ Add a cartoonishly large mustache. _

__

Like Jacques Schnee, whose dead body had been found with darkened hair and wearing a suit that had belonged to Arthur Watts.

__

A doctor.   
A doctor who would easily know how to forge medical reports for nefarious reasons.

__

"-Alexandrite, April, do you know anything about the Doctor who ran Miss Fall's blood tests?" Ironwood turned and he saw April's face shifting.   
"I mean, I heard what happened-it's not nice to speak ill of the dead-"   
"He was kind of creepy," Alexandrite made a face, "When he got back from taking the samples, he kept. Grinning. And stroking his chin."   
"And we're not honestly sure when he got here," April admitted, "We figured he came in during all the confusion and got transferred in-"

"But we hadn't seen him before," Alexandrite replied.

__

"Damn it!"

__

He'd been played like a damn fiddle. The Grimmification was the clue. Salem wasn't the type to share power; her recruitment of Cinder had never quite made sense.  _ She is the contingency plan. _ Ironwood was on his feet in an instant and he grabbed his uniform jacket on the way out the door. He didn't know if if he could do anything at this stage of the game. He didn't know if Ai Zhang could be saved, or if her best outcome was death. But all he could hear as he ran was a set of words she'd said when he'd gone to see her.

__

_ "I knew it was an Atlas Air Raid. So I went out to see." _ _  
_ _ "Why?" _

_ "Because-Because I wondered if you were going to be there." _

__

Whatever they were to each other, it couldn't be banished just because they were enemies. It couldn't be shoved aside because they weren't in love. He couldn't even repress it while he was in love with another.

__

But if this was going to be the end, damn it, she shouldn't be alone.


	29. Final Act; Scene Four

_ After the War _ _   
_ _ Atlas Military Center, Stairwell _

_ Atlas _

* * *

 

Hazel didn't stop until they reached the stairs Upon arrival he finally set Emerald down, and as he could have guessed, she tried to run back the way they came. Mercury caught her by the arm with an exasperated sigh.   
"Em, whatever she's up to, it's not our business anymore."   
"Maybe you think that way!" Emerald snapped back, "You were capable when we found you. Maybe not in the greatest place, but you could take care of yourself. I was on the streets, stealing to get by! I owe her a debt!"

"And we literally went to hell, Em! We went to that hellscape with her, and we fought by her, and then we got arrested because you wanted to make sure she survived! Well she did! What she does now is on her!"

"That's not the point!"

"Cinder is going to her death."

 

The argument was interrupted by Hazel's calm and succinct statement. Mercury seemed stunned, and Emerald whirled to turn to him.   
"What?! And you let her just-why would-we have to go back!"   
"She's choosing a death on her own terms," Hazel responded calmly, "Because if she doesn't, she fears for your well being. Both of your lives will be endangered if her body survives."   
"Her...body?" Emerald whispered as she gaped at the man. "What are you talking about?"

 

Over her shoulder, he could see Mercury's face. He'd always been far more intelligent than everyone gave him credit for.

"...this is magic shit, isn't it?" He grumbled and kicked at the air.

"Extremely powerful dark magic, if I had to guess," Hazel answered calmly, "Salem's magic."   
"But Salem's dead," Emerald's face showed the similar expression of details beginning to click, "Ruby and those others took her out."

"They defeated her, and retreated to tend to their comrades," Hazel clarified, "But I don't think anyone ever found her remains."   
"So. What?" Emerald's eyes were wide, "Hazel, what are you-"

 

"Am I late to the party?"

 

The conversation was interrupted at the flurry of movement before the familiar figure of a foe with a red half cape appeared atop the stairs.   
"Listen, guys. Kudos for the break out, but today has sucked, I'm way too sober at the moment, so if you all could go back so I can join Schnee's Special Team to catch Cinder, that would be great."

 

"-You two have all the information!" Hazel shifted as he shouted this, "I swore I'd see you two free, if not, I was down! And I intend to keep that word!"

 

Then he rushed the lean man who suddenly realized the top of the stairs was not a good position to threaten anyone from. Qrow yelped and jumped out of the way, falling back to the landing below. Once again, Hazel was using his strongest advantage-the shape, form, and size of his body to push him back.

 

Emerald couldn't stop shaking. The battle beneath them seemed far away compared to what Hazel had begun to tell them.  _ Cinder... _

"Well, fuck," Mercury spoke up then and she turned to see him scratching the back of his head, "I guess we  _ do _ got to go back and help her."

"Why the change of tune?" Emerald wasn't sure if he could hear her.

"-Listen, I know you don't like the idea of our boss kicking it, but consider what the big guy just said," He faced Emerald, "That crazy bitch who it seems like was the creator of all Grimm? Or at least, a major source of them these days? Seems like if Cinder can't...finish the deed, Salem comes back wearing her as a meatsuit. That, to me, raises at least one very disturbing question about her powers-and if she ever lost them. Personally, Salem with a Maiden's powers-fuck, Amber nearly messed us up, and she was a goody good. Salem has nothing holding her back."

"So what, we go there, we help Cinder kill herself?!" Emerald exclaimed.   
"No, we go make sure she has the ability or option to," Merc gestured with his thumb at the battle downstairs, "Think about what Superman down there said. 'Schnee's Special Team'. Sounds like they've sent more than one specialist to stop her."

"There's got to be another way," Emerald stammered, and she almost thought she saw sympathy on Mercury's face.   
"Em, where she found you, it seems like your biggest fears were dying if by starvation or some other unfortunate circumstance. Which, to be fair, is a pretty big issue and a respectable fear. But at the core of it, you were functioning on survival. Believe me when I say there are worse things in life then death. There's being alive with no hope of escaping the control of someone who doesn't give a shit about you. If we don't help Cinder do this-that's the life she's looking at. Oh, and that old hag becomes super powerful and probably tries to take over the world with an army of Grimm."

 

_ Huh _ . He may have tried to cover it up, but Emerald saw the hint of something else in Mercury's words. Perhaps a better understanding of emotions then she'd ever considered.

"So. I don't know about you. But the Boss needs help. And if this is the end, one way or another, I'd rather fight by your side on more time."

 

He reached out towards her, and Emerald glanced up despite the tears at the corners of her eyes. This was them, wasn't it? Yelling, arguing, but always keeping each other strong-if just to spite the other.

"Well, I guess," Emerald laughed, "Let's go save the world, huh?"   
"Ugh, did you have to put it that way?" Mercury made a face, "I just meant let's go save our own asses."


	30. Final Act; Scene Five

_ After the War _ _   
_ _ Atlas Military Center, Hangar _

_ Atlas _

* * *

  


"Cinder Fall,  _ stand down! _ "

  


Cinder swore when she reached the hangar and found them waiting for her. There stood Winter, sword extended, with another uniformed specialist on either side of her.  The young man on the right wore tinted glasses upon a fair complexion, and appeared to be levitating a dagger over his hand. The other was a young woman with a dark complexion, a determined stare, whose narrowed eyes were looking at her from behind the sights of a crossbow.

  


"-I find this acceptable," Cinder frowned and stepped forward, "Shoot. Stabb. End me."

"Fall, that's not going to happen. We're here to apprehend you," Winter began, "We are not monsters. Your condition-"   
"Is a fabrication. Kill me. End it right now."

"-Winter, something's wrong," The male in the tinted glasses spoke up, "-Something about her aura. It's like its at war with itself. Or like she has two."   
"Thomas, you can't see this, but she's basically half Grimm."   
"Grimm don't normally have Aura at all!"   
"What the hell!?"

  


Their debate was broken by a suddenly look of panic on their darker skinned companion. Crossbow bolts began to fly through the air, as if she was fighting phantoms or ghosts or-

"Illusions." Cinder whispered as Thomas growled and dashed forward.   
"Eryn, hold, it's not real!"

  


How the male specialist knew, Cinder didn't know, and didn't care. He moved to shield the archer, crossing his arms in front of him and lifting a spherical barrier that blocked Mercury's oncoming kick. He smirked as he jumped back and rolled from one foot to the other.   
"Well, hell, didn't expect a challenge too!" He laughed, "Em, you here that? Bubble boy here can see through your illusions!"   
"Uh, more like he doesn't see them at all, moron!"

  


Cinder twirled to see her green haired apprentice- _ teammate, no, family member- _ moving forward. One hand was on her head,  the other arm extended as she grinned over.    
"Sorry. I guess we kind of blew off your orders."   
"Hey, I'm just here backing up Em!" Mercury barked over, "She's the one who came running back!"   
"Where'd Hazel go? I know he didn't leave you two-" Cinder started and Emerald shook her head.

"He's alive, last we checked. Fighting Qrow," Emerald bit her lip, "He-filled us in. It's bad, isn't it?"

  
Her red eyes were fixed on Cinder, and she smiled sadly.   
"Yeah."   
"End of the line?"   
"For me, probably," She paused and glanced back over, noticing Winter jabbing at air, "-more illusions?"   
"Girl with the crossbow has griffins and tiny dragons. Winter gets duplicate yous," Emerald smiled nervously, "-I don't know how long I can keep both of the illusions active. They're kind of involved."   
"Understood," Cinder nodded, and she knew where she would head next. The helipad tower.  It was the only plan she had right then because she had a distinctive lack of options.

  


Winter shouted, and Emerald winced as she tossed out another illusion. Mercury and the other young man were engaged in combat, and the archer was still focused on projected enemies. But Winter was actively finding which illusions were false by feeling how her sword fell.

  


"You better get going," Emerald stated, and Cinder could sweet she was fighting to keep the multitude of illusions open.

"-I never deserved your loyalty and devotion, or Mercury's," Cinder exhaled as she gazed at her, "So, thank you, and I'm sorry."   
"It was never about deserve, Cinder," Emerald was trying to smile for her, and she could see the conflict in the younger woman's eyes, "It's what you do for people you care about."

  


That was right, wasn't it?   
"Take care of each other."

  


Cinder turned away, launching herself towards that final staircase with a stagger. Behind her, she could hear shouting as she drew on her semblance to summon an obsidian wall to cover her escape.

  


"-ten o'clock!"

  


She didn't even need to turn to look to know it was Winter who'd landed just beyond her wall on the stairs below. So instead she just kept going.

  


Atop the helipad, Cinder became abruptly aware that her first day as a captive, Winter had lied to her.   _"Well, it's a bit cold out there."_ _Bullshit 'a bit'!_ Maybe if you were Atlesian this was a bit, but to anyone else, it was brutally cold.

  


"Please, just come along quietly, Cinder! I don't want to have to hurt you!"

  


Winter's words felt honest, and that was what made it dangerous. Cinder refused to look behind her, her gaze fixed on the one thing she hadn't expected to sabotage her efforts. Beneath the helipad on all sides were  _ nets _ .

  


_ "Well. This was an exercise in futility. A shame you don't have a sword to throw yourself on!" _

  


Salem's voice was mocking her, even laughing in her ears.  But her final jab caused Cinder to pause, and the human half of her lips formed a smirk.   
"Yes, I do."

  


" _ What? _ "

  


"You are so in love with him, aren't you?" Cinder called out then as she glanced over her shoulders. She saw Winter shift ever so slightly, almost unnoticeable. If Cinder hadn't been looking for it, she could have missed it.

  


Winter Schnee had a temper. It was hard to set her off, but if you knew which buttons to push, she became a raging storm. After all, that was how Mercury had found out when Qrow Branwen had arrived in Beacon. What button had finally pushed her over the edge into combat?

  


General James Ironwood.

  


Well. Cinder certainly had an advantage in that department, didn't she?

  


"I don't know what you're trying to do, or say," Winter was trying to keep her calm, "But I wouldn't go there if I were you."

"Why? Because the only reason I was able to seduce him way back when was because you two were too caught up in regulations to admit your affections for one another?" Cinder turned to face her, "That maybe I was the woman he slept with, but you were the woman he wanted?"

"Shut up!"

  


It was working. Winter had drawn her rapier once more, and her eyes were alight with rage.

"And all through the year, you still didn't act on it? He didn't act on it? Well, him I get. He's got that whole compunction about you being younger than him. But you two are first and second in charge of the entire Atlesian Military. No one could call you on it. What's the point of being good and noble if you can't get the one thing that would make you truly happy?" Cinder snorted, "At least I was never afraid to try to take something I wanted."   
"You have no idea what you're talking about!" Winter snapped back, "I don't care what you think you know-"   
"He called your name one time you know."

  


Technically true.

  


Winter's eyes grew wide as she realized what Cinder had said, and she knew she had it.   
"Oh, he was particularly tender that night. I mean he was never bad at it, always very generous in bed. Or the alley that one time. I mean, aside from that, seducing him wasn't that difficult. After all, general or not, he's just a man. Just another lonely fool I could draw in to my grasp. Foolish. Naive. Weak."

  


Winter lunged, and Cinder forgot for a split second that her intent had been getting stabbed. She'd moved with such rage and speed, reflex and survival instinct kicked in. Paired with imbalance of having one functional leg, she fell to the ground and rolled to her back. The specialist was a blurb of white, grey, and navy. Why weren't any of her hits reaching her? Cinder had her answer when her left arm lunged out to catch the blade jabbed towards her.

  


Winter gasped and Cinder stared in horror as the dark arm twisted the metal, bent it, and pulled it aside. Her left leg was up, and her body had lunged with half of it commanding the rest. She was running out of time. The half of her body, the human half, that she still controlled felt like a rag doll being dragged around. Things were moving almost too fast for her to keep up.

  


Until she heard Winter choking.

The claws of her arm had gotten past the bent sword she was now using to try to block the attacks. Those shriveled Grimmified digits were wrapping around the specialist's neck as she tried to pull away. Cinder's amber eye was wide with horror as the scene played out, and Winter's resistance was getting weaker.

"Please," Winter choked out a word then, and Cinder found herself focusing on it, "Just. Don't hurt him again."

  


No.   
No.   
She wouldn't let this happen.   
She couldn't. She would stop this.   
"Fuck. Off!"

  


Her right hand moved in such a fluid motion she didn't know she'd done it until she heard Salem scream in her head. But shards of glass flew through the air in the chilling winds, and then they sliced through the pitch black shriveled flesh of the Grimmified Arm.

  


Cinder hadn't felt it. She couldn't control that arm, and she had been completely disconnected from it.

  


But Salem had felt it.

  


The slice caused the arm to loosen its grip, and Salem's control to weaken. Cinder stumbled back and Winter gasped in air as she scrambled away from her.

"W-Why?" She stared at Cinder as her hand went to her own neck. A few trickles of blood stemmed from where the claws had pierced the fair skin in the effort.   
"Because I will not be a pawn in someone else's game anymore."

  


Cinder bent over to collect one of the glass shards still on the ground. She couldn't piece her rib cage with it, she knew that. But that wasn't the point, was it?

  


" _ You little wretch! After everything I did for you!" _   
"Salem," Cinder announced calmly as she lifted the jagged piece of glass over her face, right hand curling around it so hard that edges drew blood, "Shut up."

  


And then she ran it into her left eye, that blood red orb among the skin. Once again, she was surprised to feel nothing. Salem's scream said she did-or perhaps she was just frustrated Cinder had taken out her line of sight.

  


"Salem....?" Winter stared at her with wide eyes.   
"Apparently, Specialist Schnee, I was more involved with the contingency plan then I knew," Cinder laughed weakly as she held down her right bleeding hand towards the other , "I was the plan."

"What?"

  


" _ Ai! Stop this! _ "

  


_ No. _

Not now. Why was he there now?

  


Cinder turned from where Winter was staring at her hand like it might attack her. The way from below was still blocked, apparently, as there was a small crack in the metal of the helipad where General Ironwood had dropped in from above on his cybernetic knee. His gun was lifted, and his eyes were fixed on her.

"I know the results were faked!" He shouted over the wind.   
"Then you know why this has to end!" Cinder called back, "This has to end now, because I'm going fast!"

  


He moved forward, and had the sickening knowledge he wasn't going to try to kill her. That noble fool was going to try to save her still. If it hadn't been so important she not leave that helipad, she might have been touched. She couldn't threaten him-it wouldn't have effect. The heroic side of him didn't value his life enough.

  


His.

  


"Sorry about this, Schnee."

  


Cinder moved in the moment Ironwood was on his feet and turning his revolver over. She yanked Winter off the ground and pulled her in front of her, right arm wrapped tight around her side.

"Shoot me, General, or she dies!"

"You won't do it, Ai! You've proven that already!"   
"I, Ai wouldn't. Hell, Cinder might not," She laughed weakly, "But I'm not the only one living here anymore, James! Salem doesn't have any reservations!"

  


She could see that was getting to him. His mind was distracted, a logical mind trying to understand magic, and it was the moment she needed. Her own inspiration struck as Winter tried to free herself from the grip of the human arm.

  


Cinder knocked her forehead against the back of Winter's head with all of her might, causing the specialist to cry out and slump, if just temporarily. In that same instant, she rushed forward towards the General-and pushed Winter forward away from her. In the confusion of the moment, Ironwood's motions were reflexive. He blocked the advance with one arm, but then he was moving to catch the stunned white haired young woman.

  


And his gun clattered to the ground, where Cinder snatched it up and took a set of steps back away from them. When the dazed Winter tried to tug at Ironwood's jacket to indicate the perceived danger, the General moved protectively around her, intent to block her from harm with his body.

  


The motion drew a sad smile on Cinder's face as she lifted the gun.   
"I wish we'd had time for one more foxtrot."

  


Then she turned the barrel back on her own chest and pulled the trigger.

  


-

  


_ What is happening? _

  


Winter's head was still spinning from nearly being choked to death combined with the knock on the head. The adrenaline was still pounding, and her ears were ringing. She could feel General Ironwood's arms wrap a little tighter around her.

  


A gunshot.

She'd heard a gunshot.   
"General?" She wasn't sure if she'd spoken loud enough, but he responded.   
"It wasn't me." His voice was faint, and she pulled herself to look around his shoulders.

  


Cinder was on the ground, and she was bleeding out. The general's gun was inches from her still human hand, and the Grimm hand was only barely twitching.

  


_ Oh god _ . Winter stood up first, as best she could, and ignored her disorientation as she did. Ironwood was up beside her, one hand carefully keeping her stable. They were barely feet away, if, but it felt longer as the world spun around her.

"Is it over?" She whispered quietly as the general knelt to press his fingers to the right side of Cinder's neck.   
"Not quite," He answered almost as softly, "But soon."

  


It all seemed so mad. But Winter had seen Cinder attack her own arm. Her once teammate Thomas had remarked on a split aura. 

  


_ "I was the plan." _

  


Cinder hadn't been fighting herself.   
She'd been fighting Salem.

  


Winter found herself reaching out to squeeze the other woman's human hand. They'd been fighting on opposite sides for so long, it felt so strange realizing this was the second debt she owed Cinder she couldn't repay. So instead she simply squeezed the dying woman's hand.   
  
"Thank you," She spoke, clearly, audibly, because that was the only chance she might be heard, "For your sacrifice."

  


The movements of Cinder's body had been shallow since they'd reached her. But soon enough, her chest stopped rising, and Ironwood moved his hand from his neck to shut her human eye. Winter couldn't read his expression as he spoke softly.   
"Goodbye, Ai."

  


She almost asked him about that name finally-about why he kept calling Cinder "Ai". She had so many questions about his relationship with the woman who had been Cinder Fall. She had so many questions about the  _ woman _ who had been Cinder Fall. She had questions about how Salem had been taking over her body, about why Cinder had cared about him, and in turn, about what happened to her.

  


If he had really said her name while with Cinder.

  


But none of those questions came. Instead, the world began to spin violently, and Winter's vision began to white out.

  


_ "Winter!"  _ Ironwood's voice rang, but it felt like it was through a hurricane. A different voice spoke much quieter, if much closer.

_ "My bad." _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To any readers who may have noticed these acts have each been five scenes.  
> First of all, you're very astute, good job.  
> Second, this is a fic inspired by and set in the universe of RWBY.  
> There will always be a follow up scene or sequence after the credits.  
> Thus, there is an incoming final chapter to tie up some loose ends.
> 
> I don't have a credits page here? But here goes.
> 
> I'd like to thank my newest platonic life mate who if I had never met I probably never would have considered the potential dynamic between Cinder Fall and James Ironwood.  
> (Who has endured the pain as I gotten each chapter out).  
> My special bae, who has dealt with me sounding ideas past their head.  
> Unexpected fans who've left kudos and feedback.  
> Monty Oum & Rooster Teeth for creating RWBY and the characters that inspired this saga.
> 
> That said, I will toss out some suggested tunes to imagine credits by while you wait-with the warning that they're pretty damn cliche and I regret nothing.
> 
> Taylor Swift: Wildest Dreams  
> Evanescence: Bring Me to Life  
> Juggernoud1 and Karliene - Once Upon A Dream  
> Florence + The Machine: Breath of Life  
> The Calling: Unstoppable  
> Seether and Amy Lee: Broken  
> Lindsey Stirling: Brave Enough


	31. After Credits: Choices

* * *

 

Mercury didn't know how to handle a crying girl. He definitely didn't know how to do it when it was Emerald who kept trying not to cry. This was all multiplied by the awkwardness of setting in _General Fucking Ironwood's office_ like they were students who'd been caught playing hooky, not war criminals who didn't have the sense to get the hell out of dodge.

 

This was all highlighted by Ironwood sliding a box of tissues to Emerald, who was not taking the news well. Turned out Hazel was right on the money. Salem had been grimmifying Cinder in order to eventually take over her body, and in turn, gain access to any Maiden powers she had.

 

"After everything settled down," Ironwood exhaled and drew up an image of Cinder looking up, and clicked play. Mercury noticed the image didn't move, and he had a feeling that if it did it only would have gotten Emerald more upset.

 

_""-I don't know if anyone is ever going to see, or hear this. I don't even know if the feed is back on. But I need to clarify something. What I'm doing next is not about being a hero. It's not about seeking redemption. It's not because I'm a good person, because I'm really not. But I'm not going to die as Salem's puppet. I'm not going to disappear quietly into the night. Because there's three people on the face of Remnant I give a shit about. Three people I care about, and would like to have generally good lives. And if that bitch comes back using me, they won't. They may not even live. So. Emerald. Mercury. James. Everything I do after this moment. I do for you."_

 

James? Who the fuck was James?

 

Mercury looked up at Ironwood as Emerald began to sob again. He reached out to hand his teammate another tissue. Normally he probably would have mocked her, and hell, he suspected the impact of Cinder's death would hit him later. But they'd thought her dead at least once before and she'd turned back up. And right now he was more worried about the living-him and Emerald, and what their fate was.

 

"Given that clip, and assorted other signed statements," Ironwood exhaled, "We've decided you two are her next of kin."  
"So?" Mercury answered dryly as Emerald once again tried to calm herself down.

"I don't know how much you know about from before,"  the general continued, "But before Salem, her name was Ai Zhang. She was...widowed, but she still had her name on a joined account with him. She'd left it virtually untouched with a fair amount sitting there, gaining interest. I made an argument his death was accidental, so that now includes a life insurance policy pay out. We've split up the sums between you."

 

Wait.  
What was happening??

 

Emerald lifted her head with wide eyes as General Ironwood set down two manilla envelopes, one to each of them. Idly, Mercury opened his to peek inside, and his own eyes matched Emerald's for a moment.  
"That's. A lot of Lien." More than he'd ever seen in one place for sure, and at a glance they were all really high denominations.

"Indeed. Now this next part," Ironwood exhaled, "You two have a choice to make. Any which way, it's yours, and you are free to do as you please. You can take the money and leave, we'll esponge your records, and you'll have a clean slate in that respect.  You can take the money, new identities, and leave. And then there's the third option."

 

By then Mercury was counting and he was legitimately uncertain if he could spend all that. He could buy a house. He didn't want a house. A car? He liked walking.

 

He could buy a place in the city. It didn't matter which city. Well, Atlas was cold, and the property was super expensive, so probably not there. And he might want to avoid Vale. Shit. Was there anywhere he could go where they hadn't terrorized?

 

"The third option?" Emerald finally spoke up,  and though her voice was strained, it didn't sound like she was about to break down crying again.  
"You're both extremely talented combatants with unusual skill sets and no small amount of espionage experience," Ironwood exhaled, "I'd like you to consider the Atlesian Special Operations. You'd be particularly well suited if you considered that path, housing would be provided, the salary is quite generous."   
"What's the catch?" Mercury squinted, "I mean, other than being on a leash."

"Most specialists don't make it past 40. The job is extremely dangerous, even compared to general Huntsmen activities. If you're found spying against another nation, you will be disavowed in an effort to maintain the peace with the nation that Atlas was spying on in the first place."

 

Mercury paused and leaned back in his chair as Emerald looked up at him.  
"And...you're saying. We choose?"   
"I mean I insist you take the Lien. It's yours," Ironwood nodded, "But otherwise yes. I mean, I'm bias. I hope you'll consider the specialist path. Atlas would be lucky to have two young people like you fighting for it."

"Why are you doing all this?" Mercury frowned, "It doesn't make sense. We're your enemy."

 

Ironwood sighed and stood up as he received a buzz on his scroll-his next appointment had arrived.  
"Because," He answered softly, "A wise woman once said there is no such thing as an eternal enemy. The war is over. The sides we once fought on don't need to define us today. You don't need to decide right away, either. I've arranged a suite for each of you at the Atlas Grand Hotel for the next week. They are extremely secure. You'll be safe."

 

"Uh. Okay," Mercury stood up, "I guess we'll call you then."

"-are you doing anything for her?" Emerald spoke of Cinder finally, "To remember her? To honor her? Maybe she only did it for Merc, me, and you-but she did save a lot of people doing what she did. Will people only know her as...?"  
"-I'm afraid Cinder Fall was irredeemable in the eyes of history," Ironwood's face softened as  Mercury took in what Emerald had said. _Him?_ Was this guy-wait, that was Ironwood's first name, wasn't it? James?   
"That's not fair!" Emerald protested.   
"-But I'm putting forth the concept of the Ai Zhang Memorial Outreach Groups for children and young people who've been abused, adopted, or left alone."

"Oh. Okay."  
  
They almost made it out the door before Emerald shot back across the office to hug Ironwood once.   
"Thank you."

 

* * *

 

 

"So, how's the terrible twosome?"

 

Ironwood sighed heavily when Qrow, shockingly, used the front door.

"Adjusting. It won't be easy for them. But I've given them resources and options. What they do next is up to them."  
"Right, makes sense," Qrow  took a swig from his flask, and Ironwood found himself watching the movement as he put it away, "And Ice Queen?"   
"Alive. Recovering. None of us expected what happened up there."   
"Yeah, that is pretty, uh, nuts," He snorted softly, "If a might confusing."

"Indeed. But she'll persevere. She always does. Just like you do."

 

Qrow wore a baffled expression, and Ironwood imagined that grew when he hugged him.  
"Uh, Jimmy, I like you too, but I didn't think we were hugging types."   
"We're not," the general stepped back and held a flask in either hand, "I just wanted to check something before I said anything else."

 

Qrow stared at him for a moment before he began to pat down his sides through his shirt, and Ironwood opened the lids to both. The first, truthfully, did smell of an alcoholic beverage. The other, he noticed, didn't even sound like it had a liquid sloshing around inside. When he popped the top, he was unsurprised to find it was cry, smelling only of metal, parchment, and ink. Inside was a wound up piece of paper.

 

"-I can explain that," Qrow began and Ironwood shook his head before setting them on the desk.  
"You don't have to. Ozpin may have been discreet, but Oscar Pine is still learning," Ironwood couldn't resist a wry smirk, "You are an excellent and dependable agent, after all. It would seem I have underestimated you vastly-fallen for the act, so to speak."

"I-don't know where this is going, and that scares me a little," Qrow squinted, "Are you accusing me of being sober?"

"I'm accusing you of not always being as drunk as you act," Ironwood gestured for him to sit down as he circled the desk again.

 

Qrow took another moment to squint, but he did pull out his chair. Ironwood opened a pile of paperwork to fill out as he spoke.

 

"It's coming to my attention that after the Fall of Beacon, your actions did not add up as a man who is simply always drunk. You followed your niece and her comrades at a short distance for months in order to watch over and protect them. When Tyrian Callows attacked them, and it looked bad, you appeared in a moment. In Haven, you got them tucked away safety and returned Ozpin's cane to Oscar, which you had previously retrieved from the ruins of Beacon."

"I mean to be fair I don't remember much of getting to Haven, having been uh, dying."

"Dying insinuates you were in the process of death. You dodged death that day, and many since," Ironwood glanced up at Qrow with a small smirk, "And then, after they were settled and left with Ozpin as Oscar, you went to gather hunters to fight by your side. When you couldn't find them, you began to investigate every single name, and noticed a pattern of disappearances previously undiscovered. Your actions then, before, and after are not those of a bumbling drunkard. They're those of a competent agent who took his role in the game and duty as a Huntsman and spy for Ozpin very seriously."

"-Can I have my flask back now? The uh, alcohol one. Not the intelligence one."

"No, Qrow Branwen, I'm afraid you may not. You need to quit drinking so much, because in your own worlds, unlike me, you have things to live for and a country to run."

 

The look of pure bewilderment honestly softened the impact much of the past week since the helipad.

"Uh, Jimmy, not sure what you're saying right now. Thinking you might be drunk. Remember that time I said if I was one of your men I'd shoot myself? I wasn't joking. That wasn't an act or booze. I can't work for you."  
"Nor do I want you to," Ironwood signed the last page and slid the paperwork over, "Brigandier General Branwen."

 

"- _What_ ?!" Qrow squawked and stared at the paperwork, "Okay let's say I believed you have lost your mind-"   
"Ozpin thought it was a brilliant idea, and when Wisteria Schnee-who reclaimed her late husband's seat on the council-stopped laughing imagining your expression, she supported the motion as well. The council is a member of five, I have two votes. Three makes a majority," Ironwood snorted softly as he stood up to walk towards his window-only now noticing the lock on the outside looked like it had been brutalized by a tiny pickaxe

 

Qrow, he heard, was frantically flipping through the paperwork.

" _Wine mom_ thought this was a good idea?"

"Quite."

"And what are you going to do in this scenario? Retire on a beach in Vacuo? Why aren't you making _Winter_ , you know, you're _second in command, star student, and protege?_ "

 

"You know why it can't be Winter now," Ironwood winced, "Glynda is breaking that news to her now. It's-unfortunate. But there's no way around it now. Because yes, she would have been my first choice."

"-Fucking Cinder Fall fucking shit up from beyond the fucking grave, man."

 

The tell tale sound of someone futilely trying to throw papers without crumbling them drew another amused sound.

"I've-I've known for a long time I wasn't suit to lead Atlas into the future. Unfortunately as long as Salem was a factor, I couldn't afford to abdicate, either. You don't cause a radical power vacuum or shift in a time of global peril. And I have enough sense to know that if I push it for another month, a new crisis will probably rise."

"-Er, okay, let's say I agree,  you've proven to have some shit decision making skills-especially in your personal life," Qrow exhaled and fixed eyes on him, "Me? Not. Glynda. You mentioned Glynda. She'd ace this job. Give it to her."  
"Glynda is going back with Oscar Pine to rebuild Beacon Academy and help him learn how to be a headmaster and wizard," Ironwood snorted, "Do you really want to go down the list? At this point I do want to put Atlas on a new path. I could select someone from the Atlesian Military-someone who's proven themselves capable, received accolades from comrades and superior officers."   
"Yes! That. Do that."   
"But then Atlas would just have someone following echoes of what I did for them, and possibly someone who isn't truly aware of how terrifying this beautiful world of ours can be," Ironwood turned back to him, "And ah, Wisteria thought you might be reluctant. She wanted me to say something if you were."   
"And what's that?" Qrow grumbled quietly as he leaned back with his arms crossed, all the world looking like a petulant child and not a grown man who was being offered an opportunity to to become a world leader.

"If you refuse, you have no power to stop her from telling Winter. She said you'd know what that meant. She wanted me to emphasize that before what happened did, you had a tendency to put her eldest in a violent mood."

 

Truthfully when Wisteria had said that (after laughing for five solid minutes ), Ironwood had his suspicions what it meant. The color leaving Qrow's face seemed to confirm that.  
"She didn't."   
"She did."

 

Qrow leaned forward and put his arms on the desk, then leaned into them and groaned. After a moment he looked up at Ironwood, only his squinted eyes visible.

"You can't _possibly_ think this is a good idea."   
"No. In fact I think it's a terrible idea."   
"Aha!" Qrow jumped up, but Ironwood held out his arm as he stood up and slid off the upper layer of his uniform.   
"But as you pointed out, my decision making of late has been fundamentally flawed. I've been, so to speak, on top of the world too long, and disconnected from reality. I will be leaving the military, most likely resuming duties as a Huntsman, perhaps as a Guardian. Enjoy the office, sir."

 

Ironwood saluted, and Qrow was left sputtering behind him as he walked out the door.  
" _Jimmy, cut this shit out! Jimmy, get back here!_ **_JIMMY!_ ** "

 

* * *

 

She'd been in and out of consciousness for-hours? Days?

 

When Winter was finally aware enough to sit up and speak, Glynda would inform her it had been a little over a week since the incident at the helipad.

 

Not that she'd need it; the date would be on the televised broadcast she was going to wake up to.

 

The specialist could remember the fight, very clearly. She could remember Cinder Fall fighting herself, and realizing only after that she'd been combating Salem's control of her own body. She remembered thanking her. She remembered Ironwood's expression. And then she could only hear roaring winds, she could only see white light, and hear two words in Cinder's voice.

 

_My bad_.

 

The week in and out of her subconscious was not one Winter relished. It featured watching her grandfather leave home when she was a girl, for the last time. It featured countless battles with her father. Secretly learning how to fence from Lord Azul, while proclaiming she was going to lady lessons. The moment she had attended her coming out party as a debutante as her own escort. Finding Ironwood in the crowd and informing him she had applied for Atlas Academy. The following battle when her father intercepted her acceptance letter.

 

Ironwood finding her sitting on her trunk, still dressed in that damn debutante ball gown, having refused to waste time changing on her way out of the house.

 

Realizing after a simulated crisis that she had inappropriate feelings for her then headmaster.  
Despite that knowledge, making up excuses to visit him in his office for conversation, tea, and games of chess.

 

Trying to shield her siblings from the brutality of their parents' marriage. How devastating their father's proclamation confirming what they all knew to be true was. How angry she was he had decided to release that truth at Weiss's birthday party.

 

Four years of trials and tribulations.

Eventually, one final confrontation with her father to tell him she was joining the Atlesian Military.

 

Games of chess and tea revisited in the long nights worked by those in the highest rank of Atlas Military personnel.

 

The shock and horror of seeing the robots Ironwood had created to protect people used to do the opposite. The fear for the fates of her beloved sister and the man she couldn't seem to tell she loved.

 

Cinder Fall.

"... _fox trot._ "

 

" _...This is Lisa Lavender, reporting from Atlas Military Headquarters, where in a historic motion, the long standing General James Ironwood has stepped down from his seat of power..._ "

 

That was the first thing she heard that she knew wasn't in her head. Winter turned towards the TV bolted up in the corner of the hospital room, noticing the broadcast. What confused her was the figure in Atlesian Uniform that the camera was zooming in on. He seemed to be dropping an anxious unprepared ramble about how this wasn't his idea, but he supposed he couldn't just drop it like a bad habit, like drinking, which he did have, but fuck, he couldn't do that as much now could he because someone had thought it was a good idea to put millions of lives in his hands, _fuck_ , don't reward me with responsibility, you dick.

 

Winter slowly sat up and realized she was sitting in a hospital bed, in a private suite. No-a securite suite. She knew the difference; you only put someone in here if you wanted to contain or protect them. Which was she?

 

She didn't have time to dwell on her personal confusion because her vision finally focused on the headline at the bottom of the screen.

 

**_Recently Selected Brigadier General Qrow Branwen._ **

 

"What?!"

 

Winter sat up right a little more violently and became vaguely aware of the power flickering in the room when she did so. A laugh answered and she turned to see the form of Glynda Goodwitch sitting beside the bed.

 

"If you'd woken up sooner, you'd have been told sooner. But James wanted to get that done as soon as he knew he had enough support."  
"I-What? Why is he stepping down at all?" Winter lifted an arm and winced at the tug of IV's.

"Honestly? He's wanted to for years," Glynda sighed, "But as long as Salem was a threat, he felt duty bound to stay in place lest it destabilize everything and give her an opening."

"I-why him?" She pointed again at the screen where Qrow was nervous answering questions about problems Atlas was facing as an individual nation.  
"Because I have obligations in Beacon still, and because," Glynda exhaled, "-Winter Schnee, I'm afraid you can no longer be a member of the Atlesian Special Operations. Nor, for that matter, can you be officially affiliated with any one of the four Kingdoms."

 

_My bad._

 

Why did those words come back to her mind when Glynda said it? Winter felt her head begin to spin again, if for different reasons. She couldn't-how was that related? Had-had Ironwood wanted _her_ to take over when he stepped away? And what did Glynda mean that she couldn't continue to be a specialist?

 

"-being a specialist is all I've trained and strived for," Winter began, "Two of my teammates-"

"How much do you remember from the tower, Winter?" Glynda spoke up then, "Because Cordovan and Dullahan weren't up there. That's a difference."  
"What's that mean?"

  
Glynda stood up, and Winter watched as the older woman crossed to a vase of lillies sitting by the window.   
"...James filled me in on some of the blanks. I'm sure by now you're aware he had-some sort of bizarre relationship with Cinder Fall."   
"Ai."

"And-"  
"No, I think he called hr Ai," Winter looked up, "I-haven't had a chance to ask him about it."

"I see," Glynda exhaled, "And it would appear you're aware, and this has been more or less verified to a small margin of error, that Cinder Fall intervened on your behalf during the failed Atlesian Air Incursion of Salem's domain."

"A source of much confusion for me, yes."  
"Well, according to James, the two were linked, which is why I'm dragging this all up," Glynda exhaled, "And we found footage of your unusual duel with Miss Fall. Before she shot herself."

"-Yes."

"And then she died."  
"I still don't understand how any of that relates to why I can't be part of the Altesian Military anymore."

"Because, in a truly unexpected twist," Glynda lowered her gaze over her spectacles to look at Winter, "You were the last young woman in the previous Fall Maiden's thoughts."

 

It took a few moments for Winter to understand what she was saying. And once she had, her blue grey eyes grew wide.  
"Wait-I-you mean-I'm-"   
"Winter Schnee, you are the new Fall Maiden."

 

_My bad_.

 

"I'm afraid your path forward has dramatically changed. You're-honestly your age makes it a very close call to the cut off. But it does seem that thirty years seems to be the official limit, and you are still beneath," Glynda turned back to Winter and crossed her arms as she gazed at her, "This is not going to be easy. You will be assigned a guardian, and you're going to spend an amount of time traveling through Remnant. Previously the guardians were strictly ceremonial, but after Amber, everyone agreed a constant companion was a better idea."

"-What if I don't want to travel?" Winter tried to keep herself calm, "What if I want to stay in Atlas?"  
"Then-that is your choice," Glynda sighed, "But know that the other kingdoms may see it as an act of war if they discover Atlas has one of the Maidens who's basically decided to keep herself within. Mistral particularly is suffering unrest following the events of Lionheart's death. Vacuo, honestly, has always been a bit prone to instigating war. They've gotten better about it, but a legitimate power imbalance of that nature-that would inevitably push it forward."

 

Oh.  
"That's not much of a choice," Winter murmured softly.   
"No, it's not," Glynda sighed and stood up, "I'm sorry. I will leave you to your thoughts. You don't have to decide yet, but-once the medical technicians decide you're fit to be released, you will. In the meanwhile, I believe a Guardian is being equipped as we speak."

 

Winter didn't blame her for walking out. They barely knew each other, and on the handful of occasions, she had clashed with her once. The door closed and Winter stared at her hands over the hospital bed blankets. She was...a Maiden. If she chose to remain in Atlas, it would mean endangering the country she had fought so long to protect, and the people she loved.

 

"I really thought it would be Em."

 

After Glynda had left the room, Winter expected to be alone in the room with her turbulent thoughts. So Cinder's voice-and the dead woman apparently gazing outside the hospital window-startled her.

 

"-Am I going crazy?" Winter stared at her as she carefully climbed out of bed so she could walk wither IV stand.  
"I thought that the first time I saw Amber, after i stole the powers. But seeing as you're seeing me, I'm guessing otherwise."

 

Cinder looked different than Winter remembered. It wasn't just that her form had become fully human again, she was dressed differently. Not one of the red dresses she was known for, but a black skirt, red stockings, and a white camisole. The dead woman drew a hand to her choker, which had a heart hanging from it.

 

"Why are you here?" Winter questioned quietly as she stood beside her at the window.  
"I honestly don't know. But seeing as I remember things from my life-things, for instance, you couldn't possibly know-I'm not a hallucination. The how-the how I can tell you. Magic," Cinder sighed, "I'm really sorry about this. In my defense though, if Atlas didn't have safety nets under the helipad, and you hadn't chased after me up there, I would have just thrown myself off the tower, and now Emerald Strusai would be the new Fall Maiden."

"I'm sorry did you just-"  
"-So I suppose I should thank you," Cinder glanced at her with a sad smile, and Winter was taken aback to see the other woman looked like she'd been crying, "Because it's better for her not to see me. She needs a clean break, and it seems when you inherit the Maiden's powers, you inherit the spirit of the previous Maiden."   
"Why?"   
"I would ask Ozpin, if you get the chance," Cinder sighed, "Salem went so far as to give me a serum so I didn't even known Amber was lurking around for a year."

"Well, great."

 

Winter turned to look back out the window at the city outside.  
"-I'm going to miss this place so much," She whispered, "I've been across Remnant before on missions. But Atlas is my favorite."   
"It's going to be different when you're not a specialist, I think you'll find," Cinder laughed, "Vacuo is my favorite."   
"Why?"   
"It's where I met Emerald and Mercury."

 

Winter squinted at her, and Cinder rolled her eyes.

"Apparently, yes, I am capable of human emotions. It's kind of a direct factor that led to my death. I'm  not like you-sacrificing happiness for millions of people I don't know. It's always been more personal for me."  
"How did you-"   
"Fun fact I'm in your head now. You have no secrets. And no, I don't think you can poke in mine," Cinder laughed, "Which reminds me. You're no longer Atlesian Military. He's no longer Atlesian Military You two really have nothing stopping you now."

 

Winter's cheeks heated and flushed before she turned back away from her.  
"There's you."   
"Oh, if things get heated, I can vanish myself for a while, I think."

"He slept with you."  
"Ancient history."

"The night before you died."

"Oh."

 

Winter didn't answer her, but Cinder winced as she glanced over.  
"-You'd been waiting for him? In his office? While we were-oh god no wonder you're so angry. And- _that's how he told you he loved you!?_ " Cinder gaped and turned back to the window, "God, I thought I was exaggerating on the tower to antagonize you. Apparently he really is that dumb."

 

_I will not smile. I will not smile. I will not smile._

"Ha! I amused you."

"Do you ever go away?" Winter glanced at her.  
"I mean-I can. I'll probably pop by and check in semi-often. I don't know if I'm a limited time thing or not. I know I had Amber and Pyrrha in my head until Salem worked her magic to cut me off so I couldn't use the Maiden powers still inside me. But that wasn't a normal situation," She sighed, "Nothing ever is."   
"Pyrrha Nikos?" Winter raised a brow.   
"Eh, Ozpin was trying to transfer Amber's remaining power and aura to her when I offed Amber. Pyrrha wound up connected to it, so after I killed _her_ , I guess she was caught up, too."

"I see."

 

What else could she say?  
"I can go if you want. Wherever it is. I go," Cinder sighed, "Kind of new at this."   
"I don't care."   
"You and I both know that's a lie. You don't know. There's a difference."

 

Winter sighed and turned around to walk back to the bed.  
"I can't tell him."   
"-Why not? Because I can tell, despite the rage," Cinder crossed after her and sat at the egde of the bed, "You still love him. And that's what's fueling the anger. That despite the fact that he got involved with me, despite the fact that we were intimate again after I hurt him, you still can't imagine a world without him in it."

"-Because I have to leave Atlas now," Winter rolled on her side so she wouldn't have to look at her, "And it wouldn't be fair."

"-I will never understand you good guys. What's the point of saving the world if there's no happy endings?"

 

* * *

 

 

Within a few days, Winter received permission to leave the hospital. She made the decision _not_ to tell anyone about Cinder. It was either really magic, or, madness. Either way, nothing good could come of revealing it.

 

Weiss had visited, which had been pleasant. They'd caught up, and spoken, and Weiss had bashfully admitted there were a couple special people in her life and now she might pursue them romantically. Winter had encouraged her to do so, and to make sure she didn't let being a Schnee stop her from following her heart.

 

Whitley had visited, which had been awkward. But she got the feeling he was trying to apologize if it ever seemed like he was taking their father's side. She didn't blame him; they all did what they had to in order to survive. By the time Weiss left for school, their mother had been very deep in the bottle, and he'd have been alone.

 

When Winter's mother arrived on the final morning with a change of clothing for her journey and a travel pack, she'd been surprised. Wisteria looked...better then she had in years. She didn't smell like wine, she'd cleaned and fixed up her hair. In fact, she was dressed quite well, like she had a meeting to attend after.  
"You look-" Winter struggled for a word and her mother laughed.   
"Sober?" She offered and nodded, "I ah, I'm trying. It's...easier now, but I won't say easy."

"I..." Winter suspected she knew what she meant, so she just nodded. Jacques was dead. The man who had driven her to drink was gone. Years of addiction wouldn't disappear overnight-but perhaps she could work towards sobriety now?  
"-I'm so sorry, my dear," She sighed heavily, "For letting you and your siblings down all this time. And for-for the fact that you have to leave like this."   
"Well, with the promise of war if I don't travel the world," Winter answered wryly, "Why wouldn't I want to?"

 

Wisteria nodded solemnly as she presented the items, and Winter felt a strange sense of familiarity when she looked over the pack.  
"This is quite old."   
"It is. Sturdy though. I found it in storage."

 

Winter drew her hand over the top, and found a medallion with the Atlas emblem on it-and the letters "N" and "S" where they would appear on the compass. Her eyes widened as she lifted her gaze back to her mother's.  
"This is-"   
"Your grandfather's," Wisteria nodded, "I thought you might like it."

 

Winter trembled for a moment, but then she rushed forward to embrace her mother. Wisteria blinked, and gently return the hug.  
"He'd love this, by the way."   
"What?" Winter sniffed and leaned back to try to hide the tears she felt forming from the unexpected emotions.   
"That you, _Winter_ Schnee, are the _Fall_ Maiden."

 

It took a minute for the joke to sink in, but once it had, Winter found it extremely difficult to stop laughing.

 

She hadn't realized how much she needed it.

 

* * *

  
 

Her mother walked her down to the lobby, where Winter had been told her 'Guardian' would be waiting. She found herself scanning the halls, looking for the one person who hadn't come to visit her. The one person she wanted to see before she left Atlas for an uncertain amount of time.

 

_Why didn't the G-why hasn't-_

"You've never used his first name, have you?"

 

Winter winced, and refused to answer the dark haired apparition beside her as they reached the lobby. Her mother was still there, and she would not talk to someone no one else could perceive while she was there.

 

_What are you doing here?_ By then Winter had realized Cinder could gleam her thoughts-especially if she tried to direct them at her.

"Oh, I noticed something from down the hall. Wanted to be here when you noticed."

_Huh?_

 

"Hey, you!" Wisteria called out as she marched ahead, and Winter followed her path before her eyes widened to where her 'Guardian' stood.

 

Cinder began to crack up.

 

There stood James Ironwood, hands folded behind his back, clad in familiar white slacks and a black turtleneck. But above the shirt he wore body armor, a faded silver now grey. There was an etching in the metal outer layer, faded as it was. Across the center was a heart curled into itself that seemed to branch out on either side into branches or leaves.

 

"You," Wisteria stated as she marched up, and Ironwood turned around, "You are _not_ to let anything happen to my daughter. I don't care what sort of danger turns up, if she gets hurt, you better already be dead. Do you understand me?"

 

_He_ was her Guardian? Ironwood was the constant companion who would be traveling with her?

 

His expression was strange, and his eyes didn't fall on the widow yelling at him. They didn't stop til they were on Winter, and she could see a mix of apology, regret, and sadness in them. There was also something else in that piercing blue gaze-something softer she couldn't identify that made her heart flutter.

 

"Lady Wisteria," He spoke calmly, "I would see it no other way."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> || Thus Concludes This Tale. I thank you all for reading! I do not know if this particular universe will continue, but I know these tales needed to end. It would be a dishonor to any of the characters if I didn't try to finish this saga they gave me. ||
> 
> ||A Quick Reference Note: The Imagery that appears on Ironwood's body armor is not my own design. It is inspired by a piece of art a friend of mine did up that I shall link to: http://brokenlevel.tumblr.com/post/169607886153/you-know-when-you-have-a-rough-idea-and-the-rough ||
> 
> || Pssst Friendo if you for any reason object to the link being here say the word and I will take it out, but credit due where credit due ||


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